■vi 







&? 






5 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 
® # 

I , — ^ ^p/^l 

j UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. J 



GUADALOUPE. 



GUADALOUPE: 



A TALE 



LOVE A.ND WA.:R. 



: 'Love, war, a tempest, — surely there's variety; 
Also a seasoning light of lucubration ; 
A bird's eye view, too, of that wild society ; 

A slight glance thrown on men of every station. 
If you have naught else, here's at least satiety, 

Both in performance and in preparation : 
And though these lines may only line portmanteaus, 
Trade will be all the better for these cantos." 

Byron's Don Juan, Canto XIV. 



BY ONE WHO SERVED IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1846-7, 



IN THE LATE WAR WITH MEXICO. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

JA S. B. SMITH & Co., 

No. 27 South Seventh Street. 

18 60. 

to I 



n 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

JAS. B. SMITH & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for 
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



King & Baird, Printers, 607 Sansom Street. 



k 



♦...*, 

TO 

BREVET MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE CADWALADER, 

OF PHIIiABELPHIA- 



Sra: 

Without asking your permission, and with no design to 
natter, I respectfully dedicate the first canto of the following 
poem to you, as a tribute of respect for your character as a 
man, and of admiration of your gallantry as a soldier. De- 
scended from a line of heroes, distinguished for their courage 
and patriotism in the Revolution, and for their devotion to the 
free institutions of the country, as well as for their unwavering 
defence of its interests and honor, in peace and in war, you 
are as much beyond the reach, as you are above the want, of 
any adulation at my hands. 

In this conviction, and with this declaration, I make the 
present offering to your worth, with no hope of exalting myself 
in your estimation, or of obtaining celebrity through your 
patronage. A simple desire of expressing the sincere esteam 



6 DEDICATION. 

of one who was happy to serve with and under you, in the 
late war with Mexico, and who was proud to know you in the 
more peaceful walks of civil life, is the sole motive of the 
tribute. As you looked with favor upon his earliest efforts as 
a soldier, he gratefully avails himself of a time-honored " poetic 
license," to invoke your name, as a sort of sponsor to his first 
offspring as a bard, but with no design to make you responsible 
for its character, its tone or its tendency. These, — whatever 
they may be, — are chargeable only to 

THE AUTHOK. 



PREFACE. 

Introductions and prefaces are, to authors, what 
safety valves are to steam engines, — -the means 
by which an excess of vapor, which it would be 
dangerous to retain, may be safely got rid of. 
Whatever of vanity, and the consciousness of 
having performed a great and important task, 
cannot be embodied in their works, writers usually 
express in this way, and, as prefaces are seldom 
read, it is perhaps the most harmless mode they 
could choose for self-glorification. The object of 
their labors ; the extent and depth of their re- 
searches ; the authorities they have consulted ; 
the errors they design refuting, and the benefits 



8 PKEFACE. 

they intend to confer upon their readers "and 
the rest of mankind/' are matters which they 
cannot explain so well in any other manner, 
and as the public are rarely inclined to enquire 
into an author's motives, it saves the reader a 
great deal of annoyance, to express them where 
he will not be troubled to look for them. 

This preface, if read, will be found to contain 
few of the characteristics referred to, and, whether 
read or not, nothing will be found in it which 
is essential to an understanding of the matters 
which follow. The public will therefore lose 
nothing if they pass it over altogether. My 
only object in attempting thus to introduce my 
poem to the reader, is to say that it was de- 
signed to fill a vacuum in the history of the Mexi- 
can war, which the writers of the day have left 
unoccupied. 

I do not pretend to be a poet, and I sincerely 
regret that an abler pen has not yet made an effort 
to sketch those incidents of the war, which form its 
most interesting features, and which can only be 



PKEFACE, 9 

expressed in the language of poetry. Historians 
may give us very exact and edifying accounts of 
the origin and progress of a war ;— Partizans, in 
their eternal wranglings, may give us exaggerated 
and startling accounts of its glories, its horrors 
and its cost, and Statesmen may enlighten us as to 
its remote or immediate affects upon the welfare 
and destiny of the Nation ; — but who will draw a 
faithful picture of the heroism, the dangers, the 
privations, the toils, sacrifices, sufferings and 
triumphs of the actors, if the poet and the painter 
decline the task ? Partaking the feelings and the 
hopes, and sharing the enthusiasm of the soldier, 
they alone can adequately appreciate his conduct 
and position, and present him, as he is, to the 
admiration of his less excitable, because more 
practical, fellow citizens. They alone can feel and 
express the ardor of the hero, and breathe into 
a description of a battle or a siege, the impulsive 
spirit and the steady valor ; the headlong daring 
and the cool determination, which inspire and 



10 PREFACE. 

sustaii^the combatants, and which really constitute 
the living soul of war ! 

Although I am very certain that I can only per- 
form such a task in a feeble and imperfect manner, 
as it is much easier to express a want, than to 
supply its demand, I have made the attempt, in the 
hope that if I fail, some one better qualified will 
assume and complete it. 

The first steps towards it were really taken 
while the author was in Mexico, but with no in- 
tention to publish his efforts, and with no studied 
object in view. He has since resumed the task at 
intervals of leisure, and, at the instance of a few 
friends, to whom he exhibited his first sketches, 
he has reduced them to something like order. lie 
cannot, however, claim for the poem the regular- 
ity of a narrative, or the reality of a history, but 
he thinks it will exhibit enough of the character 
of both, to render it acceptable to those who have 
a taste for such productions. More than this he 
has not attempted and does not anticipate. 

The first canto is unavoidably occupied, as exor- 



PKEFACE. 11 

dium, in breaking ground for what may -follow 
If its reception by the public shall not warrant the 
publication of a second, all I have to say to the 
" intelligent reader," is, that I shall be sorry for 
the failure, and will atone for the blunder by 
avoiding all temptations that might lead me to a 
similar mistake in the future. 

One word more. As my poem, or, if you please, 
my rhyme, relates chiefly to Mexico, and the events 
of the late war in that beautiful but unhappy coun- 
try, I have given it the title of Gruadaloupe.* "Our 
Lady of Gruadaloupe" is one of the most eminent 
and popular saints in the Mexican calendar, and 
divides with San Miguel Soldado,f the patronage 
and devotion of the nation. Every thing pretty 
or interesting in the country, including some very 
charming women, wears the name, and I have 
therefore adopted it as applicable to the scenes, if 
not to the quality and spirit of my verse. Another 
reason for so doing may appear hereafter. 

* Pronounced Waw-da-loop-ee. 
f St. Michael, the soldier. 



febaloup: % Sale of f oh anir Mar. 



Hail Muse, or Muses ! — maiden sisters Nine ! 

To whom all hapless rhymesters still must bow, 
Or flounder through each marr'd and broken line 

In which their unblest aspirations flow, 
Invoking your celestial aid to shine 

In verse, I bend in supplication low, 
Hoping that some of you may find the leisure 
To shape my soarings and improve my measure. 

II. 

I want to write a poem or a story, — 
A lyrical romance, or epic tale, — 



14 GUADALOUPE : 

Something beyond the improvisatore 

Of modern bards, which, weary, flat and stale, 

Brings to its authors neither pence nor glory, 
Pleases the public or commands a sale, — 

Not that I mean to write for filthy pelf, 

Or ask your aid to glorify myself: 

III. 

But while a world of headless hands are writing, 1 

. " And all the rest of mankind' 7 daily reading 
Their lucubrations, — in effect inviting 

Men of all tongues, tastes, talents, wit and breed- 
ing, 
To throw the very slops of their inditing 

Into the spiceless flood on which they're feeding, 
May I not give them something better still 
Than this unsavory, intellectual swill ? 

IV. 

I can, or could, or might, beyond all doubt, 
Weave into rhyme the useful and the moral, 

To put live bards to shame and vice to rout, — : 
But where's a subject fit for such a carol ? 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 15 

Poetic topics have been quite worn out 

By the dull crew of recent scribes, who mar all 
They touch, and now, so shamelessly abused, 
May not again by better hands be used. 

V. 

The drama is my forte, but gods and men, 
Since Boker's advent, have in horror damn'd 

Each luckless wight that wields a tragic pen: 2 
And groaning monthlies are of late so cram'd 

With "Odes" and "Sonnets," past all mortal ken, 
That Fame, stunned by their tuneless din, has 
slam'd 

Upon this tribe of literary bores, 

Her shining temple's throng'd and outraged doors. 

VI. 

Lyrics are at a discount, since for cash 

Barnum evoked one for the Crystal Palace, 

For out of all the dull, insipid trash 

That claim'd the prize, afflicted judges tell us 

Not one possess'd the faintest sign or dash 
Of soul or sentiment, save that by Wallace, 



16 GUADALOUPE : 

And if that was, of sucli a mass, the best, 
God help the men who had to read the rest. 3 



VII. 

Hirst, — vide Behemoth, — has proved the folly 
Of writing what cannot be understood, — 

See also his Pantheon ; 4 — while Du Solle, 

Who once pour'd out of rhyme a copious flood, 

Has, in a sickly "Ode on Melancholy," 

Shown how in vain we war against our blood 

When we attempt, as saints, in print to shine, 

While our whole lives disprove each specious line. 



VIII. 

Miss Waterman, whose "heart was made to love " 
And has, I most devoutly hope, found some 

Fit object for its worship, and may prove, 

In wedded life, her early "thoughts of home," 

Has, with her strains, so filled each echoing grove 
That, forced to silence in all time to come, 

Poetic boys and undeveloped ladies 

May dream no more of blushing brides and — babies. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 17 



IX. 



" Greek Girls" are not my weakness, and I leave 

To Simmons all such wandering, wanton things, 
Who only wake one's heart to thoughts that 
grieve, 
And sometimes break, its strain'd and burning 
strings ; 
Besides, I deem it very wrong to weave 
A story which, in all its phases, flings 
A doubt on morals, and makes honest marriages 
Less seemly than shame-purchased pomp in . car- 
riages. 5 - 



And " Sylvan Scenes" have been so ably drawn, 
By Spear's too idle pen, 6 1 fear to tread 

With him the frowning wood or smiling lawn ; 
Indeed, I'm so addicted to my bed, — 

When once I'm there, — I seldom see a dawn, 
And, to my shame and sorrow be it said, 

I look so rarely on the face of Nature, 

I scarce could paint of her a single feature. 

2* 



18 GUADALOUPE : 



XI. 



What subject then, Oh Clio ! rhyming muse ! 

Shall I adopt, to ease my laboring brain ? 
What path to public praise and glory choose, 

And, the path open, what the style and strain ? 
If in this strait of knowledge you refuse 

Your aid and counsel, all my toil is vain, 
And therefore from this strange and motly crowd 
Of bards, I call for help on you aloud ! 

XII. 

I pause for a reply, — and softly stealing, 

Over each sense and through my kindling soul, 

A new-born impulse comes, and every feeling 
Is flushed with hope, while glory's radiant goal 

Shines full before me, in its light revealing 

Path, pitch and portal, in one brilliant whole, — 

(I marvel much, just having made my lunch, 

If this be inspiration or — the punch !) 

XIII. 

No matter which, — I'm fairly started now, 
And o'er the current of my flowing strain, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 19 

Whatever clouds may low'r, or storms may come, 
Like the bold Genoese, who dared the main, 

In search of unknown shores, — I'll point my prow 
With steadfast resolution to maintain 

My onward course unchanged, — my polar star 

The flashing orb that rules o'er Love and War! 



XIV. 

Oh, Love and War ! how broadly and how strong 
Your deep foundations in our hearts are laid ! 

The theme of history and the soul of song, 

Woman's whole being — Man's absorbing trade — 

Eesistlessly ye lead the giddy throng 

Of hopes that fire the dust of which we're made, 

And o'er life's colder, duller dreams diffuse 

Joy's brightest beams, and Glory's richest hues ! 



XV. 

Nature herself, and nature's every child 

Confess your mutual power in instincts true ; 

For whether civil, savage, tame or wild, 
Creatures of every feature, form and hue, — ■ 



20 GUADALOUPE : 

Man, beast and bird, — live only when beguiled 

Or charm'd to action or repose by you ; 
And ruling thus camp, court, cave, cell and cloister, 
Doubtless you also animate the oyster ! 

XVI. 

Why not ? — all bivalves, oyster, clam and mussel, 
Have hearts and eyes, as well as coats of mail ; 

With these they, doubtless, see and feel and tussle, 
As beauty wins them or as foes assail : 

Just like the rest of earthly things that justle 
Each other as their loves or hates prevail ; — 

Of this I'm certain, population spreads 

With them, as other tribes, from fruitful beds. 

XVII. 

The very flowers, whose gorgeous colors seem 
But given to beautify and glad the earth, 7 

Reflect in every blush the radiant beam 

Of Passion's sun, and pour their perfumes forth 

In gentle wooings, while, within them, stream 
Poisons at war with all of mortal birth, — 

Proving a bond of sympathy between us, — ■ 

I mean the world and you ; Oh ! Mars and Yenus. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 21 



XVIII. 

And who will say ye are not both divine ? 

Do ye not mingle in our very blood, 
And through our souls with peerless lustre shine ? 

When our first parents moved in primal good 
Where worship 'd they, but at Love's holy shrine? 

And ; when they fell, what nerved them as they 
stood, 
Defenceless else, amid creation's jar, 
But heaven-sent courage, arming them for war ? 

XIX. 

Bright rosy Love ! thy magic influence 

We own and welcome. Every shining dart 

That wounds us wakes each wild and burning sense 
To more than mortal joys ; the swelling heart, 

Throbbing with raptures, ardent and intense, — 
Eaptures which spells like thine alone impart, — 

Feels in each pulse, as deep thy shaft is driven, 

A sweet foreboding of the promised heaven ! 

XX. 

But one defect impairs and shakes thy power, 
One sad regret attends thy happy reign, — 



22 GUADALOUPE : 

Man's changeful heart, sway 'd by each passing hour, 
Too soon, alas, grows weary of thy chain, 

Koving in wantonness from bower to bower, 
And wooing still, with plight and promise vain, 

Each budding flow'ret, every newer face, 

That meets his gaze and older charms efface. 

XXI. 

Yet in his very wanderings he is true 
To thy divine impulses, and confesses, 

Even in his waywardness, how much is due 
To thee of all that charms, exalts and blesses 

Ilis restless spirit ; for the brightest hue 

In which young Hope the sunny future dresses, 

"Would lure in vain, or, if attained, would prove 

Obscure and dull, if not enhanced by Love. 

XXII. 

And what if Beauty wins him for awhile 

From the lone shrine to which his faith is plighted? 

Can it be very sinful to beguile 

A moment thus with charms that mayn't be 
slighted ? 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 23 

Should manhood frown on woman's witching smile, 

And her sweet offerings wither "unrequited ? 
No, surely neither constancy nor truth 
Demands such wrongs to Beauty, and, in sooth, 

XXIII. 

If asked, who could, or would, or should surrender 
The happy privilege, not to say the duty, 

The common meed of gallantry to tender 

Wherever due? — why else should youth and 
beauty 

Make woman lovely, or more graces lend her 
Than shrivel'd age, or features harsh and sooty ? 

Nature herself declares, in instincts strong, 

If not in words, such love cannot be wrong. 

XXIV. 

Not that she means, or I would have her say, 
That it is just, or even at all defensible, 

To throw a heart once woo'd and won away, — 
Yet, while I hold the treason reprehensible, 

And hate the wretch who flatters to betray, 
It seems but right, and altogether sensible, 



24 GUADALOUPE : 

If single still, and one will not content ye, 
That you may fairly fall in love with twenty. 

XXV. 

Love rules us all ! The greatest and the least 
Are not too great or little for his arrows ; 

Angel and sprite, saint, sinner, bird and beast, — 
Including elephants and tiny sparrows, — 

In common share the torments and the feast 

Of the dread god,— excepting mules and barrows, - 

And not a joy the heart of mortal knows 

But springs from Love, and blesses as it flows. 



XXVI. 

It forms the aim of every aspiration 

With which the young and bounding soul is rife ; 
It is the stay of every tribe and nation, 

The bond that gives them a harmonious life ; 
In short, the base and tie of population, 

It moulds those fiery elements of strife, — 
Man's passions, — by a natural kind of casting, 
Into a form, bright, beautiful and lasting. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 25 
XXVII. 

What would we be without it ? — who can say, 
Unless we cite some monster for example ; 

For even tameless birds and beasts of prey, 

Whose kinder instincts are by no means ample, 

Love one another ; fiercer far than they 

Were man, if he alone should slight or trample 

That soothing law, or principle, which nature 

Has fixed in him and every living creature. 

XXVIII. 

Wide as the word, then, be the mandate given 
To love whatever merits admiration, 

And if we may not make of earth a heaven, 
Or realize those dreams of reformation 

For which a Fourier has so vainly striven^ 
We yet may reach a happy elevation, 

And share a thousand other things in common, 

Save, — and the exception is a fair one, — woman ! 

XXIX. 

And whence those lights, whose cheering rays 

illume 

Man's upward progress, in the toilsome race, 
3 



26 guadaloupe: 

Whose starting point is deep barbaric gloom, 
Whose goal perfection, but the deeds that grace 

The hero's arms? — the sword and dancing plume 
Of war have led, and still all-dazzling trace, 

The path of Empire, science, civilization, 

To every struggling, grasping, rising nation. 

XXX. 

The first bold vessel that e'er dared the seas, 
The first wild tribe that from their rude homes 
stir'd, 

The first essay of Art's dark mysteries, 

And the first notes that wondering echo heard 

Pour'd forth in music's measured harmonies, — 
Waked, task'd, inspired or beckoned by the 
sword, 

Owned in their breath and birth the soul of Mars, 

And made man what he is through countless wars! 



XXXI. 

Then sing, my Muse ! the mingled joy and pain 
Of Love's enchanting, War's exciting story ! 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 27 

What nobler themes could wake thy tuneful strain, 
Or throw on man's dim path a ray of glory ? 

Wisdom, religion, science, steam, in vain, 

With novel charms and maxims grave and hoary, 

Have shed their sober, peaceful lights around him, 

And left him still the restless thing they found 
him. 

XXXII. 

For wisdom spreads her cold and solemn pages 
With much of pomp, but little of attraction, 

Except to stately and ambitious sages, 

Whose austere morals mock all human action, 

Whose souls are ever wandering back to ages 
Distant and dim, and, lost in deep abstraction, 

Forget the world that round them breathes and 
beams, 

To pore upon some senseless cynic's dreams. 

XXXIII. 

Eeligion, too, o'erloaded with the forms 

That crafty priests, for profit, put upon her, 

Displays no more those pure and holy charms 
Which once a simple world's glad worship won 
her; 



28 GUADALOUPE : 

A sordid zeal now only wakes and warms 

Her hopes, and lust of temporal power and 
honor 

Drives her, still begging where she should com- 
mand, 

The servile puppet of a scoffing land. 



XXXIV. 

And science has been so abused by quacks, 
So mystified by addle-brain 'd pretenders, 

So stun'd by vindications and attacks 
Of fussy foes and arrogant defenders, 

Who would, " an' if they might," upon their backs ; 
Like Atlas, bear the world and all its wonders, 

That she has long since fled to parts unknown, 

To muse, — dispairing of mankind, — alone. 



XXXV. 

Steam, it is true, is doing, and has done, 

Much for this world, and something for the next 

As o'er the land its snorting engines run, 
Or wake old Neptune, startled and perplext ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 29 

But, though it hath our admiration won, 

The modern wonder hath as often vext 
As served our ends, — and fill'd earth, air and ocean 
With wrecks, as well as trophies, in its motion. 

XXXVI. 

Cold, formal, thread-bare, laboring things like these 
Are, as I said, incapable of changing 

Man's heart, or Nature's yieldingless decrees ; 
Sometimes, indeed, his hopes and thoughts es- 
tranging, 

They win him for a while, but never please ; 
True to his instincts, through the wide world 
ranging, 

He yields, obedient to the voice of Jove, 

His soul and faith alone to War and Love ! 



XXXVII. 

This doctrine will, no doubt, appal the ears 

Of pious non-resistants, who contend 

That war is wrong, per se, and he who wears 

A sword, although it be but to defend 
3* 



30 GUA.DALOUPE : 

His native land, — nay more, the judge who bears 

The brand of justice, — doth as much offend 
As any cut-throat that e'er took the road, 
Or Haynau-like delights in human blood. 

XXXVIII. 

They tell us that all violence is evil, — 
Granted, — unless it be to gain a good, 

Which may not be achieved by being civil ; 
They say, too, and I wont be understood 

As contradicting them, that the arch devil 
Eejoices when we shed each other's blood, 

And add, if smote on one cheek, we must smother 

Our anger, and all meekly turn the other. 

XXXIX. 

Now this I must, and will, and shall deny, 
Because it is unnatural and absurd ; 

Justice is worth contending for, and I 

Would take the ruffian boldly by the beard, 

And give, to curb him, or at least I'd try, 
The law of Moses, from Mount Sinai heard, 

Demanding tooth for tooth, — let cowards quail, 

I'll fight for cause, and " go it tooth and nail." 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 31 

XL. 

These fellows, like all other brainless sects, 
Forget one half the law they would expound, 

And while they labor to distort some text, 
Only confuse themselves, and worse confound 

The faith they follow, 'till at length perplext 
By canting sophistry and senseless sound, 

They sieze on some apt dogma, and proclaim 

Their bastard faith in heaven's perverted name. 

XLI. 

But, though I know it is a hopeless task 
To set such hollow hypocrites to thinking, 

Much more to put them right, I just will ask 
One simple question which admits no blinking, 

And must be met and answered without mask, 
Dodging or begging, shuffling or shrinking, — 

It is, — if God so much all strife abhors, 8 

Why did he arm our fighting cocks with spurs ? 

XLII. 

Or why have tigers such a lust for blood, 

With fangs, and claws, and strength to gratify 



32 GUADALOUPE : 

Their carnal appetites ? — or for what good 
Were given the eagle's talon, beak and eye ? 

Or why should half the living world be food 
To t'other half, if such a harmony 

As theirs, who talk so much of peace and love, 

Had been the will of all-creating Jove ? 



XLIII. 

But Time and Progress will such changes bring, 
7 Tis said, as man has never seen before, 

And human reason, purified, will fling 
Such sublimating influences o'er 

All the vile passions and desires that spring 
In our now wicked hearts, that we shall soar, 

As very angels, far above the mire 

Of earth, made pure by faith's refining fire ! 



XLIV. 

Now, though I do not doubt, nor will deny 
That such a better time as this may come, — 

For everything is possible, and I 

Have seen enough to strike all doubters dumb,- 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAE. S3 

Things daily happening, which no less defy 

All human calculation, — yet I've some 
Good reason to conjecture such a change 
Slightly beyond progression's widest range. 



XLV. 

Man is not all a spirit or a worm, 

But both at once ; and though he boasts a mind 
Whose giant power can raise and rule the storm, 

And the fierce lightning curb, and teach and 
bind, 
He wears a weak and perishable form 

Whose passions will burst forth, mislead and 
blind, 
And moulded thus, he can at best but be 
A shining link 'twixt dust and Deity ! 



XL VI. 

He is what God has made him, and no less ; — 
Would you, ye saintly sages, have him more ?- 

No ! howsoever far he may progress, 
He still will love and hate as heretofore ; 



34: GUADALOUPE : 

Kefinement may, and will, exalt and bless, 
But will liis senses slumber in his lore ? 
And hope, ambition, glory, cease to charm, 
Or insult, jealousy and wrong to warm ? 

XLVII. 

I hope as much for man from coming time 
As the most ardent, wisely, may expect, 

But ere he can be wholly free from crime, 
And in the fountain of his thoughts reflect 

Nought but the beautiful, the pure, sublime, 
Or walk the earth in angel glories deck'd, 

He must be born a saint, and jump the stages — 

The weaknesses and ills — of life's " seven ages." 

XL Vill. 

And, let me ask, what would the world now be 
If all the priceless harvests, which the sword 

Has reap'd, were lost ? 9 — what nation would be free, 
Or what examples would the past afford 

To lead the future on to Liberty ? 

What tyrant ever yet, with frank accord, 

Gave freedom to a supplicating land, 

Or yielded justice to an unarmed hand ? 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 35 

XLIX. 

It's very easy when we are hard press'd 
For reasons to support some fav'rite theory, 

To put a doubter's cavillings to rest 

By calling to our aid some quaint "a priori" 

Some holy axiom or divine behest, 

Which reaches his, and proves our, "a posteriori" 

And lay our bantling, fatherless before, 

Thus safely wrap'd in cant, at heaven's door. 



But I confess, although the plan succeeds, 
In using it we still some peril run, for 

The brawling brats which bigot fancy breeds, 
And thus by faith are " taken in and done for," 

Are hard to keep within bounds and must needs 
Show their vile blood and birth, if only fun for, 

And very often in a moment spoil 

Long years of prayerful hope and pious toil. 

LI. 

Thus it has proved with all the monkish frauds 
Which Greece and Home imported from the Nile, 



36 GUADALOUPE : 

To bolster up a faith in monster-gods, 

With, human instincts, earthy, gross, and vile ; 

Who now such cunning mockeries applauds ? 
Or who approves, though he, perhaps, may smile, 

When tales of Jupiter's mad pranks are told,- — 

Of rampant bulls, wild swans, and showers of 
gold? 

LIT. 

If 'twere not for the bright and winning dress 
Of poetry thrown o'er Olympian revels, 

These heathen deities would scarce seem less, 
Or more, than just so many roistering devils ; 

So little have we cause to praise or bless 

Their wicked doings and their shining evils ; — 

In deeds less bold than Jack the giant killer, — 

In rev'rence far beneath our Father Miller. 



LIIL 

But this is scarcely to the point ; — I mean 
No theocratic essay now to write, 

Though, if occasion served, or it had been 
My purpose, no one could, I'm sure, indite 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 37 

One half as brilliant, bitter, savage, keen, — 
Because I hate and loathe each pagan rite 
That lent a mythic charm to falsehood's altar, 
And made e'en Truth, o'erwhelm'd and dazzled, 
falter. 

LIV. 

I only meant to ask a simple question 

Of those philosophers and saints, who preach 

The non-resisting faith and such like fustian, 
Intending by examples apt to teach 

That, of the wilderness of faiths, the best one 
Is that which God has placed within the reach 

Even of the humblest, dullest comprehension, — 

Plain without art, profound without pretension. 

LV. 

And this forever speaks in Nature's voice, — 
Telling an unadorned and truthful story, — 

That if we're happy, we may well rejoice ; 
If sad, we cannot but be dull and sorry ; 

If love of praise and honor be our choice, 

We may, with no great sin, seek fame and glory ; 

In short, as culminates our ruling star, 

Laugh, sigh, toil, love, or even go to war ! 

5 



38 GUADALOUPE : 

LVI. 

As flowers with smiles the joyous earth, adorn , 
Or clouds, by light'nings riven, all trembling 
weep; 

As plenty laughs amid her waving corn, 
Or famine howls along each barren steep ; 

So man, amid a thousand changes born, 

Must sing or groan, laugh, sigh, or soar or 
creep, 

As these inspire or mould his pliant will, 

And be, whate'er his faith, a mortal still ! 



LVII. 

And yet I am no fatalist, nor one 

Who deems that chance controls man's least 
affairs ; 
But while I own he's free enough to run 

Without the chain which lifeless matter wears, 
I cannot grant him power to turn or shun 

The current of that stream of time, which 
bears 
Him and his fortunes on, and in whose wave 
He had his birth, and soon shall find his grave. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 39 

LVIII. 

Like bubbles on that dark and stormy tide, 
"We follow still its calm or eddying flow, 

Scarce conscious, in our self-sufficient pride, 
Or whence we came, or whither we shall go ; 

And while more perfect knowledge is denied 
In this life's voyage, it is enough to know 

We rise or sink, as ebb and flow the laws 

Which bind each atom to its parent cause. 

LIX. 

Enough of this : — too long already wandering 
From the true current of my glowing theme, 

Whose vocal course, by flowery banks meandering, 
Invites me to its bright and flashing stream : — 

I'll plunge at once, — but not like hot Leander in 
The chilling Hellespont, to rise all steam, 

Or win an ague which his Hero's arms 

Could scarce subdue, with all love's burning 
charms. 

LX. 

But, much more prudent, I shall safely float 
Adown my story's smooth or stormy tide, 



40 GUADALOUPE : 

Provided with a trim and well found boat, 
And with my mistress seated by my side — 

Sweet, sprightly Fancy — just to help me note 
And shape events, as on we rush or glide, — 

And now, kind reader, with a fav'ring gale, 

I'll start at once my voyage and my tale. 

LXI. 

Yet stay, — I must apologize for such 
A hydropathic prelude to my song ; 

I'm surfeited myself, and will not touch 

Another drop, but take to " something strong;" 

I did not purpose to throw half as much 
Cold water in my rhymes, though I belong 

To that most useful of all public bodies 

Who're pledged to put down cobblers, slings, and 
toddies. 

LXII. 

And how I got in such a liquid strain, 

Of streams, tides, currents, I cannot divine ; 

I surely have no dropsy on the brain, 
Nor am I prone to flowing cups of wine ; 

But somehow all my metaphors have lain 

In waves, and floods, and seas of flashing brine ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 41 

My muse must certainly be Neptune's daughter, 
Or she would drown in such, a " waste of water." 

LXIII. 

I will, however, try to keep on shore 

Hereafter, and in future figures try land ; 

Or, if I should attempt the wave once more, 

My aqueous tropes shall hug some pleasant island, 

Where they may land, if need be, and explore 
Its grottoes, caves, woods, dells and jutting high 
land, 

For similies to grace my story's moral, 

Apart from sea- weed, cockle-shells and coral. 

LXIV. 

And now, thank heaven, I've really done of 
spinning 

Preparatory webs, that do but warp 
One's thoughts from the true aim of a beginning ; 

And so I sieze at once and strike my harp, 
Trusting its notes may prove, if not praise-winning, 

Not altogether flat, nor yet too sharp ; — 

I'll try a natural key, and, if I fail, 

Yours be the loss and mine shall be — the wail ! 

5* 



42 GUADALOUPE : 

LXV. 

Hark ! o'er the Eio Grande's turbid stream 
What sounds portentous, faintly echo'd come ! 

And lo ! what pageant woos the morning beam, 
"With swelling bugle and deep-rolling drum ! 

A host of threatening lances proudly gleam 

In the dim distance, while hoarse murmurings 
boom, 

From wide mouth'd cannon, whose exulting roar 

Breathes a defiance to our startled shore ! 



LXVL 

And why hath Mexico, with wild alarms, 

Thus roused her dreamy sons from their repose ? 

What sudden impulse animates and warms 

The sluggish blood that through their dull veins 
flows? 

Why calls she to the conflict dire of arms 
Her Cazador from Orizaba's snows, 

To mingle with her dark and fierce Eanchero, 

Her warlike Priest and gallant Caballero ? 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 43 

LXVII. 

What foe has dared to tread her burning plains, 
To quench the flickering liberty she shares ? 

Have royal ruffians forged again the chains 

Which once the new, as now the old, world 
wears ? 

No, it is not that bold invasion stains 

Her soil, or that a scepter'd foeman dares 

To win her back to vassalage, — but she 

Is drunk with pride, lust, hate and jealousy ! 



LXVIII. 

She cries for vengeance, while she burns with 
shame, 

And pours her warlike legions panting forth, 
A free but rebel province to reclaim 

From her o'er-shadowing rival of the north, — 
Whose power, whose splendor and whose dazzling 
fame, 

In all the arts that give her wealth and worth, 
She views with jealous eyes, and now would dare 
To mar the glories that she cannot share ! 



44 GUADALOUPE : 

LXIX. 

But vain the task, and fruitless all her toil : — 
Too long has Texas kept her foes at bay, — 

And never more shall her free sons or soil 
Confess or fall beneath the tyrant sway 

Of Mexico, or prove her dupe or spoil, 
If Uncle Sam had not a word to say ; 

While he, since she has now become a State — 

Eeckons on keeping her, I calculate. 

LXX. 

Ten years had passed since, gallantly, she won 
On San Jacinto's memorable plain 

Her Independence, and each year had shown 
Increasing strength her freedom to maintain ; 

While Mexico had yearly feebler grown, 
And less inclined her empire to regain ; 

And Justice, strengthen'd by a world's decree, 

Gave Texas sovereign power, and made her free. 

LXXI. 

Paper blockades, and unpursued demands 
No longer claim respect, or give a right, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 45 

Else might the weakest bind the strongest hands, 
And vain pretenders wield unbounded might ; 

But sov'reigns now, who deign to give commands, 
Must show their warrants in the clearest light, 

And should not only prove their claims as made, 

But own the power to make their wills obey'd. 

LXXII. 

Such is the law of nations, and 'tis just, 
For as we have no arbiter but force, 

When kings or states fall out, their quarrels must 
Be estimated, as a thing of course, 

Not by the principles in which they trust, 
So much as in the strength of their resource 

In " villainous saltpetre," and the scales 

Of justice leans as victory prevails ! 

LXXIIL 

So when a differing people would decide 
Some point in politics, whose moral mocks 

Their cunning reason, they at once divide, 
And try the question at the ballot-box, — 



46 GUADALOUPE 

Convinced that truth is on the stronger side, — 

And howsoever the decision shocks 
The vanquished party, they display no wit, 
Nor grace nor merit, if they don't submit. 

LXXIV. 

Then why should Mexico again appeal 

To arms, when once their stern but just award 

Pronounced against her ? May the common weal 
Of nations with impunity be mar'd ? 

Is every braggart, who may chance to feel 
Warlike or wolfish, free to disregard 

All human obligation, right and rule, 

And play, at will, the conquerer or the fool ? 

LXXV. 

No, much as we're disposed to let the world, 
As men or nations, follow their own noses, 

When war his sable standards all has furl'd, 
And his red sword within its sheath reposes, 

We can't consent that thunder should be hurl'd 
By human hands, when lust or malice choses, 

Or cry " God speed," when envy, pride or hate 

Would crush, because it could not rule, a state ! 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 47 

LXXVI. 

And so I cannot, may not, say "amen" 
To Mexico, when, wild with indignation, 

She wakes from half an age's sleep, again 
To claim a province lost past reclamation ; 

Not that she cares for Texas, — soil or men, — 
But to avenge her hated annexation 

To our bright halo of increasing stars, 

Whose light she dreads, whose glory she abhors ! 

LXXVII. 

Well ! let her come! she'll have a cause profound 
To recollect the day that she advances 

A hostile foot beyond her rightful bound, 

Or shakes, with boding rage, her savage lances 

Upon what should be held as neutral ground, 
Because disputed ! 10 — soon the eagle glances 

Of watchful sentinels shall mark and know 

Their banners as the heralds of a foe. 

LXXVIII. 

And dark and terrible shall be the day 

When her exulting hosts shall meet that band, 



48 GUADALOUPE : 

Who now, in battle's stern and dread array, 
Dauntless and cool, but firm and faithful stand, 

Anxious for peace, yet ready for the fray, 
Should any foe assail their cherish 'd land ; 

And vainly as the sea assails our rocks 

Shall war on them expend his fiercest shocks ! 

LXXIX. 

They come ! — at length the " Eubicon is past." — 
And nought is heard but the wild echoings 

Of their invading footsteps ; and the blast 
Of proud defiance, which their bugle flings, 

Has reach'd and rous'd our sentinels at last. 

Peace flies the land, though with reluctant wings, 

And now our warriors must prepare to meet 

The foe, or lay their banners at his feet. 

LXXX. 

Perhaps our sapient peace men would proclaim 
The latter course the best and wisest, for 

"With them there is no darker, deeper shame, 
Than for a nation to indulge in war : 

It's nothing to forego the glorious name 
Our fathers gave us, — nothing now to mar 

Our ripen'd liberties, — to bend the knee, — 

And nothing, — that's a fact, — to cease to be ! 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 49 

LXXXI. 

But these are "nothings," which, as "men of 
blood, 1 '— 

Noble and warlike blood, — we're apt to add 
Together, just to ascertain what good 

Out of a sum of " nothings" may be had; 
And if the calculated product should 

Yield nothing, you can't deem our doctrines bad, 
If we conclude that "nothing," more or less 
Than this, displays a craven nothingness. 



LXXXII. 

They come ! and murder follows in their track ! 

As venom marks the path the serpent crawls : 
No bold defence of right, no brave attack, 

Their boasted valor into action calls ; 
"Witness how by the daggers of this pack 

The gallant Cross in secret ambush falls ! 
His blood, an offering by assassin's given, 
Cries out for vengeance from the earth to heaven ! 

6 



50 GUADALOUPE : 



LXXXIII. 

And vengeance shall be his and ours ere long, 
For though man may by craft and crime delay 

The hour of justice, there is none so strong 
In will or power, that can avoid the day 

Of retribution, when each hoarded wrong 
Shall rise against him in a dread array ; 

And wrath which, though it slumber'd, was not 
dead, 

Shall then fall, wardless, on his guilty head ! 



LXXXIV. 

'Till then they come ! and Taylor saw with pain 
Their hostile legion swarming on our shore ; 

But while he felt the deep and burning stain 
Their footprints left upon our soil, he bore 

The insult patiently, and tried again, 

By firm but mild remonstrance to restore 

Pacific intercourse and kind relations 

Between the neighbor, though the rival, nations. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 51 



LXXXV. 

And in advance of his impatient host 

The noble Worth with peaceful mission sent, 

Imploring Mexico to count the cost 

Of such a war, before all hope was spent ; 

But vain the mission, for, to reason lost, 

The foe on carnage and revenge seem'd bent, 

And ere their march began, had, in their rage. 

Outraged the nation and disgraced the age ! 



LXXXVI. 

For neither n^ing war, nor keeping peace, 
And reckless of a world's reproving frown, 

As if they meant the quarrel to increase, 

And prove how desperate in the wrong they'd 
grown, 

They made our consul strike his flag and cease 
His sacred functions, and although not thrown 

Into a dungeon, he escaped the jail 

Only to have an arm'd police for bail. ( u ) 



52 GAUDALOUPE ! 



LXXXVII. 

Held under what they term a " surveillance" 
Among the French, when " order reigns" in 
Paris, 
That is, when despotism crushes France, 

And the chief object of its tender care is 
To watch each honest man with vigilance, 
' Lest too much liberty should, haply mar his 
Eepose, — our consul in the city's verge 
Was kept a sort of prisoner at large. 



LXXXVIII. 

When asked if he was free to act, they said 

Of course he was, and yet they "(fculd not show 
him ; 
But why, if still allowed to wear his head, 
He could not be produced, so Worth might know 
him, 
Was more than they could answer, and the dread 
With which they spoke, show'd how they would 
bestow him 
If left alone, and proved a purpose steady 
To have a war, — which they'd begun already. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 53 



LXXXIX. 

Yet, patient still, this insult, too, we bore, 
Hoping, against despair, to close the breach 

Which Mexico seem'd bent on widening more 
By threatening attitudes and hostile speech ; 

And so again we halted to implore 

Her better sense a juster course to teach, 

Wishing that every claim of either nation 

Might still be settled by negotiation ! 



xc. 



But vain the hope, and every mild appeal, 

For she would talk of nought but " deeds of 
arms," 
No arbitration but the flashing steel, 

And no debate but battle's stern alarms ; 
She even look'd upon our earnest zeal 

To soothe and bring her to pacific terms, 
As proofs of fear, and, as our words grew milder, 
She bluster'd all the more, and storm'd the 
wilder. 

6* 



54 GAUDALOUPE : 



XCI. 



So, at the first, Almonte stoutly swore, 
When we proposed to Texas annexation, 

That if we dared advance one footstep more, 
However cautions, 'twards its consummation, 

His outraged nation would, o' the instant, pour 
Upon us its deep wrath and indignation, 

And bloody war, with all its kindred terrors, 

Should soon convince us of, and scourge, our 
errors. 

xcn. 

We gently hinted then that Uncle Sam 
Was much inclined to manage his affairs 

To suit himself, and though he wouldn't slam 
His door upon a king, nor kick down stairs 

A minister, he didn't care a d n 

For any nation that should take such airs ; 

And while Almonte's threats were not worth 
heeding, 

They clearly proved his want of wit and breeding. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 55 

XCIII. 

We told him, too, that Texas was a free 
And sovereign nation, and was fashion'd so 

In just the self-same natural mode that we 
Had been, as well as warlike Mexico, — 

A happy union of the will to be 

And power to do : — what title could he show, 

Better than this, for all the wide domain 

And empire Mexico had wrung from Spain ? 

XCIV. 

We knew his masters were disposed to own, — 
A fact they could no longer well deny, — 

That Texas had to Independence grown, 
But, casting on the north a jealous eye, 

They wish'd to bind her to exist alone, 
And, if her gallant people would comply 

With such a base proviso, Mexico 

Would hail the power she fain would overthrow. 

xcv. 

But, more than this, we had good cause to know 
That France and England shar'd the jealousy 



56 GAUDALOUPE : 

With which she saw our towering empire grow, 
And state on state add to its galaxy 

Their beaming constellations, and to show 
How much we feared their league or rivalry, 

We gave Almonte, ere his rage grew cold, 

His passports, and — took Texas to our fold. 12 

XCVI. 

But this is prosy, and I won't pursue 
So dull a task as argument in rhyme, 

For it is difficult to clothe the true 

And stubborn facts of dull and plodding time 

In fancy's brighter garb of rainbow hue ; 
We're apt to step beyond the true sublime 

Of poetry, by trying thus to blend it 

With facts which often mar, but seldom mend it. 

XCVII. 

I'll, therefore, not attempt to mould or mingle 

Discussion and diplomacy again, 
With the imaginings that yet may jingle 

In easy verse from my harmonious pen ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 57 

In truth there is no need to add a single 

Expostulate to what must be so plain : — 
Our neighbors only sought, as the world knows, 
A pretext to become our bitterest foes. 



XCVIII. 

They would not, and they could not be appeased ; 

They would not listen to an explanation ; 
Like fretful children, who will not be pleased, 

Their rage gre^ fiercer with expostulation, 
'Till, stung with shame at their own faults, they 
seized 

The iron arguments of desperation, 
And tried to prove themselves entirely right 
By a most silly eagerness to fight. 13 



xcix. 

Then blazed through Mexico the fires of war ; 

Then peal'd her clarions, summoning to arms ; 
Then burst her wrath, and, echoing afar, 

Like the deep mutterings of her summer storms 



58 GAUDALOUEE : 

When rushing elements in conflict jar, 

Swept o'er our land, and waked, with stern 
alarms, 
The lion spirit which our fathers bore 
When Freedom's earliest foe assailed our shore ! 



c. 

The soul that made them heroes was not dead, 
Nor had it slumber'd in the long repose 

That peace had given us, but, still conquering, led 
Our hardy people 'gainst a thousand foes 

Wherever art, adventure, commerce sped ; — 
It made our forests " blossom like the rose," 

Built cities up, and Avon, with manly toil, 

Triumphs that shame War's best and richest spoil ! 

CI. 

All that could make a people bold and strong, 
All that can make a nation truly great, — 

The virtues which to manhood still belong, 
And, while they polish, fortify a state, — 

Were theirs, with that quick, manly sense of wrong 
That scorns the power that would intimidate, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 59 

And, like the electric shock winch wakes and 

warms. 
Thrill'd through their souls the startling call " To 



" To arms t" — thus sped the thrilling cry, 

Throughout the echoing land, 
While eager flash'd each hero eye, 

And dauntless grew each hand, — 
" To arms ! — a foeman treads our shore 

To ravage and to spoil, 
And Freedom calls her sons once more 

To vindicate her soil ! 



" Unfold your banners to the breeze, 

Light up your council fires, 
And wake the warlike memories 

Of your great and gallant sires. 
Heirs to their Liberties and Fame, 

Assert your glorious birth, 
By deeds that shall at once proclaim 

Your lineage and your worth ! 



60 GAUDALOUPE J 



" Gird up each stout and manly loin, 

And, with a purpose high. 
In one unbroken phalanx join 

To conquer or to die : — 
To conquer in the holy cause 

Of country, home and right, 
Or die, amid a world's applause, 

The foremost of the fight !" 

CII. 

As forests by autumnal tempests stirr'd, 
As surges driven along the troubled deep, 

So rock'd the mighty nation, and so pour'd 
Its living tides, while onward as they sweep, 

In waves of eager chivalry, are heard 

From city, hamlet, vale and mountain steep, 

Naught but the echoings of that battle cry, 

Which summon'd hosts to death or victory ! 

cm. 

And not alone an army train'd to war 

Answer'd that wild and thrilling call to arms, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 61 

But, as its stirring echoes sped afar, 

Fresh from their looms, their work-shops and 
their farms, — 
From warehouse, college, studio and bar, — ■ 

Eush'd a free people, — not for glory's charms, — 
But to avenge, with faithful heart and brand, 
And rifle true, the insult to their land. 

CIV. 

There was no lack of heroes, and the world 
Saw, with incredulous wonder and surprise 

That war's dread bolts could be as deftly hurl'd 
By freemen, conscious of their liberties, 

As by a host, above whose ranks unfurl'd 
Th' emblazonry of Princes flaunts the skies, 

And that a pure Democracy may own 

A power as great as that which guards a throne. 



cv. 

The gallant South, the bold and hardy North, 
The polished East, and the adventuring West, 

In gen'rous emulation sallied forth 

Eesponsive to the nation's proud behest, — 

1 



62 GAUDALOUPE : 

Not as a rabble, but with wealth, and worth, 

And every social good that makes man blest, 
Join'd in their ranks, and in each hero band 
Were first to serve, the ablest to command. 

CVI. 

The meteor flag their noble fathers bore, 

Wl^n Britain vainly sought to make them slaves, 

Now in its starry glory, as of yore, 

A pledge of victory, o'er them proudly waves, 

And woe to him who treads our heaving shore 
With hostile foot, and in his rashness braves 

The scathing terrors, which, like lightnings hurl'd 

Flash from it, thus in battle's front unfurl'd. 

CVII. 

Towards the heavens it lifts each shining fold, 
Freedom's glad sign, and Freemen's guiding star, 

Like Israel's burning herald, which of old 
Led God's own chosen people, journeying far, 

In quest of liberty, — though toils untold 
Lie in its path, nor flood, nor chance of war 

Shall stay the march of those whose faithful gaze 

Draws hope and courage from its cheering blaze. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 63 

CVIII. 

And onward sweeps that wild and swelling tide 
Of human surges, whose roused passions all 

Seem concentrated in a deep and wide 

Desire of vengeance, — one impulsive thrall, — 

That silences each thought that might divide 
Its empire o'er them, and as rise or fall 

Its billows, in its tempest-driven course. 

The torrent gains in fury and in force. 

CIX. 

Even politicians mingle in each wave, ( 14 ) 
And many a fierce and wrangling partizan 

Forgets to prey upon, and joins to save, 
His country, and becoming all a man 

And patriot, speaks as speak the free and brave 
When faction ceases to excite and fan 

Those grosser passions, whose unholy fires 

Consume their victims in their own desires. 



ex. 

But in the midst of all this preparation 
And overflow of patriotic zeal, 



64 GAUDALOUPE : 

Quite different thoughts obtruded on the nation ; — 
For softening sentiments will ever steal 

Into our hearts, when, in their perturbation, 
They seem the sternest, — teaching us to feel 

That though grim Mars at times commands our arms, 

Yenus still holds us, bound in Beauty's charms ; 

CXI. 

Charms that forever cling around the heart 
The closer as we near the dreaded hour 

"When fate or fortune snaps each thread apart, 
And all the spells of woman's witching power 

Dissolve in tears. For not without a smart 
The boldest sees the clouds of battle lower 

Upon the hopes that Love has spread before him, 

And glory pales amid the gloom shed o'er him. 

CXII. 

And there were tender partings and embraces, 
Adieus and sighs, and many a burning vow, 

And heaving breasts, and sad and pallid faces, 
Dim doubts and fears, whose heavy bodings bow 

The spirit down, or leave their darkling traces 
Long, long upon the soul, no matter how 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 65 

Its manlier thoughts and aspirations high 
May war against them for the mastery. 

CXIII. 

Ambition may not wholly ward the pain, 

Or cure the grief, the breast is doom'd to feel, 

When Love has won it to his bright domain, 
And some unlook'd for turn of fortune's wheel 

Breaks, suddenly, the soft and silken chain 
That bound it to its idol ; — lock'd in steel, 

In toil or battle, storm or sunshine, yet 

That one sweet dream it cannot all forget. 

CXIV. 

The highest gifts of fortune or of power, 

The proudest honors which the world bestows, 

And all the dazzling glories Fame can shower, 
Nor warm, nor cheer us as the flame that throws 

Its hallowing beams from Beauty's rosy bower, 
To lure and charm us as it purely glows — 

And even the sternest of our kind still prove 

But giddy moths around that light of Love. 

t* 



66 GAUDALOUPE 



CXV. 



And so my hero thouglit and felt, and so 

He moved and acted, as I soon shall mention 

Much more at large, and should an hour ago 
Have done, perhaps, as it was my intention 

At first to introduce him, and to show, 

Through him, that this is not a mere invention, 

Got up for my own special gain or glory, 

But a most truthful and instructive story. 

CXVI. 

A poem is not worthy of the name 

Of epic, if it has no hero in it, 
For whatsoever merit it may claim 

As a mere essay, though a sybil spin it, 
The world would deem it profitless and tame 

Unless heroic deeds and sufferings win it, 
The sympathy and admiration due 
To scenes that either are, or may be true. 

CXVII. 

And as I purpose to indite a story, 
Which, if it be not altogether real, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 67 

Shall point a moral ; and reflect some glory 
Upon our nation's arms and common weal, 

I'll set my hero, if I can, before ye 

" Arm'd all in proof '," if not "lock'd up in steel," 

And let him, in his life and deeds, portray 

The thoughts, hopes, doctrines, I would sing or say. 

CXVIII. 

But still to chose a hero is a task 

Which^puzzles most bards, for amid the number 
Who in the blaze of glory's sunshine bask, 

There are but few whose names would not encum- 
ber 
A moral story, and the world will ask 

Those who select from such historic lumber 
To pick, at least, sound timber, such as makes 
Good " platforms," — which, at best, are no "great 
shakes." 

CXIX. 

To seek among the living sons of fame 
Is dangerous, I know, for every one, 

Doubtless, imagines his particular name, — 
Brown, Smith or Jones, — beyond comparison 



68 GAUDALOUPE : 

The very one to put the old to shame — 

Not even excepting that of Wellington, 
. Whose worth has been so well and widely spread, 
There's nought to add, except, thank God, "he's 
dead." 

cxx. 

He's buried, too, and if within his grave 
His vices, with his ashes, were entomb'd 

It would a deal of toil and trouble save 
To his biographers, who now are doom'd 

To labors that would crush a galley slave, 

To prove that half the laurels that have bloom'd 

Along his path, were not a bastard breed 

Of hot-bed plants that never came to seed. 

CXXI. 

His life was made of accidents and crimes, 
And his successful butcheries in the East, 

Which won his " iron" title from the times, 
Of all his bloody blunders were the least, 

For though he war'd in many lands and climes, 
No love of justice warm'd his ruthless breast, 

And Freedom dreaded, while mankind abhor 'd, 

The bootless triumphs of his flaming sword. ( 15 ) 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 69 

CXXII. 

My hero must be one who will not need 
The purchas'd praises of a venal pen, 

Nor court a cringing politician's meed 
Of fame reflected back from better men ; 

Simple in sentiment, but firm in deed, 

He'll stand a plain, straight forward citizen, 

In peaceful times, though fierce as frowning Mars 

When Freedom calls him to her holy wars. 

CXXIII. 

And such shall be my Eandolph, — so I call him, — 
His christian name St Charles, — as good as any, — 

But still I hope his critics won't overhaul him, 
If, peradventure, in the view of many 

He will not, in the fate that may befall him, 
Prove either saint or sage, for even then he 

Will only show, as Shakspeare did the same 

In Komeo's case, — there's nothing in a name. ( 16 ) 

CXXIV. 

In truth I merely name him thus to single 
My hero from the crowd of heroes, who 



70 GAUDALOUPE : 

In this heroic age and country mingle 

Their names with those of the " immortal few," 

Whose glorious deeds a willing Fame will sing well 
Till times last echo, — what she'll ever do 

With the pretenders, passes divination, 

Unless she damns them with their own laudation. 



cxxv. 

This certainly would molify their vanity, 
For nothing so rebukes and cures conceit, 

Unless, indeed, it soars to stark insanity, 
As, like a very echo to repeat 

The idle babblings of its own inanity ; 

The genuine praises of the world are sweet, 

But when obliged to purchase or to make it, 

Fame turns to physic,— dogs would scarcely take it. 



CXXVI. 

To cram a quack with has own patent pills, 
To pay a forger in his own base coin, 

To make a tapster drink the drugs he fills 
To muddled customers, for honest wine, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAS. 71 

Compared with, theirs, are sufferable ills, 

Who, forced to fan the flame in which they shine 
See all their glory sink at last to zero 
From too much puffing ; — but now to my hero, 

CXXVII. 

Most epic authors love to throw a mystery 

Over a hero's birth and early days, 
As if they were afraid that a true history 

Of these would much impair his claims to praise, 
But mine, whatever, reader, you may list, or he 

May prove in mandood's stern and sober days 
Shall come before you just as he appear'd 
Struggling towards discretion and a beard. 

CXXVIII. 

Few men, I know, can look back on the past, 
Especially their boyhood, without blushing ; 

And modern youths have grown so very "fast," 
Progress, with most of them, is simply rushing 

Into excesses which impair and blast 

The brightest hopes with which life's spring is 
gushing;— 



72 GAUDALOUPE : 

But still the errors which surround life's portal 
Are, in the main, but proofs that we are mortal; 

CXXIX. 

Mere things of clay, whose chiefest glory lies 
In warring with the perils that beset us, — 

To bear against our fate, and struggling rise 
Above the obstacles that chafe or fret us ; 

And if some fall or fail to win the prize, 

That saints and sages to exalt have set us, — 

It does not follow that we're worse in heart 

Than those who made a better end or start. 



cxxx. 

For as we cannot drive ills from life's door, 
When first we pass from the paternal hearth 

"Into this breathing world," what can we more 
Than strive against them ? They are of the earth, 

Not ours, and had their being long before 
"We hapless, helpless creatures had our birth : 

Our virtue is but proved as they importune 

Our weakness on this threshold of our fortune. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 73 



CXXXI. 

If good intentions could confer exemption 
From tempting accidents that lead to evil, 

Mankind might justly hope for safe redemption 
From the too wide dominion of the devil ; 

But self-sufficient faith gives no preemption 
To heaven's domain, and from the beaten level 

Of time, no power can lift us, or bestow 

The stainless souls which angels only know. 

CXXXII. 

But this is neither to the point I meant 
To illustrate, when just about producing 

My hero, nor a part of my intent 

In thus, with all his foibles, introducing 

His story. It were folly to invent 
Apologies or pretexts for seducing 

His youth, and then to ask you to admire him 

For virtues which hereafter may inspire him. 

CXXXIII. 

In truth I shall not paint him as a rake, — 
For he was quite a model in morality, — ■ 
8 



74 GAUDALOUPE: 

Nor shall I, on the other extreme, make 
Him out entirely free from sensuality. 

True to my purpose, I shall neither take 
From, nor add to, his individuality, 

But give him to you, just as I may find him, 

With all the world before, and youth behind him. 



CXXXIV. 

I've merely said this much to warn the candid 
And honest reader, from the silly notion 

That heroes are a whit more even-handed, 
Or steady-footed, in their faith or motion, 

Than others are ; for whatsoever man did, 
Does, or may do, in war, love or devotion, 

All heroes have done, — and, — but let that pass, 

And, now, behold my hero in your glass. 



cxxxv. 

About his parents I cannot say much, 
Because I really know of them no more 

Than that they were related to the Dutch, 
Settlers of York, and in the county bore 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 75 

An honest name, while their estate was such 

That, though not rich, they had an ample store 
For ease and independence, and could spare 
To alms and hospitality a share. 

CXXXVI. 

Born, nursed and nurtur'd, just as you and I, 
And many others who have lived before us, 

He saw the clear light of his native sky 
First from the margin of the dark Cadorus, 

And there his early years flew swiftly by, 

As with us all, ere manhood comes to bore us 

With schemes of power and glory, hopes and fears, 

And toils whose wages are but sighs and tears. 

CXXXVII. 

At fourteen he was sent to Princeton College, — 
A fine old institution, known to fame 

For the immense amount of varied knowledge 
Which it imparts, and one that lays a claim, 

In this most learn'd and scientific dull age, 
To an unbounded and undying name 

For its resplendent lore in Greek and Eoman, 

And arts, of practical behoof to no man. 17 



76 GAUDALOUPE : 

CXXXVIII. 

Here he acquired a smattering of Euclid, — 
A study which. I most devoutly hate, — 

And laboring earnestly, as never Jew did, 
Or ever will, he could at length translate 

Ovid's whole " art of love," and, what but few did, — 
And to his credit only this I state, — 

He did not idly learn the art, — the fact is 

He carried it almost too much in practice. 

CXXXIX. 

In ethics and political economy 

He made great progress, and could soon explain, — 
From Genesis and Deuteronomy,— 

The laws of Moses, and — who married Cain ; 
But what he most excell'd in was Astronomy, 

For he could tell you when each star would wane 
And when the moon would fill her horns with light, — 
He chiefly studied these things out at night. 

CXL. 

Princeton is famous for its pretty faces, 

And, for a league or two, the country round, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 77 

Pair forms, ennobled by still fairer graces, 

On every hand may be, with, searching, found ; 

And among all the interesting places 

Where open hearts and handsome eyes abound, 

I know of none so lovely and attractive 

To those who seek ideals that are active. 



CXLL 

It's just the place to send a moral youth to, 
For rapid progress in his tastes and letters, 

And, if to piety inclined, in truth you 

Might search in vain for more devout abetters 

Than its dear angels, who, in very sooth, do 
Bind one's chaste soul in such delightful fetters, 

That you would to their skirts most freely pin 

Your faith, and never dream again of sin. 



CXLII. 

Indeed the neighborhood, and, I might say, 
The State, is so proverbially pious, 

That if we were inclined to go astray 

The very atmosphere would still defy us ; 



78 GAUDALOUPE : 

And if sometimes the girls appear too gay 

We may be sure they only tempt to try us, — 
They never drop a smile, or bare a charm 
With the least thought of doing any harm. 

CXLIII. 

And yet I don't mean to be understood 
To say that Jersey girls are stiff or cold, 

As free from all the rigors of the prude 
As from the immodest ardor of the bold, 

They're neither shy nor awkward, rough or rude, 
And, to their lasting honor be it told, 

They neither think of warming you, or chilling, 

By being too unkind or yet too willing. 

CXLIV. 

Six months among these fascinating creatures, 
With now and then a pic-nic or a fair, 

To render you familiar with their features, 
Will make the truth of this description clear, 

While, if you are of an " enquiring nature," 
You'll find substantial proofs of gifts so rare 

In many a radiant beauty who'll exhibit 'em, — 

To one who can appreciate, — ad libitem. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAE. 79 



CXLV. 

And one such illustration met the gaze 
Of our young hero, who, in Linda's eyes, 

And graceful form, and frank and artless ways, 
Traced every charm that in a maid we prize ; 

His admiration led, of course, to praise, 

And praise to love, and love to vows and sighs, 

And other incidents that fill romances 

With "thrilling raptures," " transports," " tears and 
trances." 



CXLVI. 

At fourteen he could hardly be a lover, 

And yet we sometimes feel at that quick age 

More true affection than we e'er discover 

At twenty-five, although even then not sage,- 

And the dim instincts that, like visions, hover 
Around oar hearts, in this our hirsute stage, 

If not in fact love, hate, ambition, pride, 

Are to those passions very near allied. 



80 GAUDALOUFE : 



CXLVIL 

But jump the next two years, and then suppose 
My hero past sixteen, well-shaped and tall, 

And form'd to love and be beloved by those 
Dear creatures who, since Adam's rise and fall 

Beguile us of our empire and dispose 

Our hopes, aims, ends, and in despite of all 

Our sterner natures, or assumed austerity, 

Mould, not ourselves alone, but our posterity. 

CXLVIII. 

At sixteen we attain to that condition 

When all our sentiments from outward form 

Assume their shape and tone, and " young ambition," 
That glorious artist, — paints in colors warm 

The pleasant objects of each brilliant vision 

That gives to life its bright but fleeting charm, — 

At thirty-two such visions melt away 

And dress our fading hopes in sober grey. 

CXLIX. 

No matter, — there's a time for everything, — 
As saith the preacher, and our manhood's prime 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 81 

Is not the time to moralize or fling 

Wet blankets on our spirits, but a time 

To laugh, and love, and dance, and so I'll bring 
My muse down from a flight that's too sublime, 

And turn from topics which appear didactical, 

To one more pleasant, pertinent and practical. 



CL. 



St. Charles had now, as I have stated, grown 
Handsome and tall, and, in his ripening years, 

Disco ver'd what we all must sometime own 
With joy, but still more frequently with tears, 

That even the coldest hearts can't beat alone, 
But ever seek, to share their hopes and fears, 

Some kindred bosom, where they pour their woes, 

And find in sympathy a sweet repose. 



CLI. 

And, as I more than hinted at, he found 
In Linda's gentle breast that sympathy 

His own now long'd for, for although around 
Her came a crowd of flatterers, her eye 



82 GAUDALOUPE : 

And clieek grew bright, but when the welcome 
sound 
Of his soft whisperings told her he was nigh; — 
Of course she did not labor to conceal 
A love it was so pleasant to reveal :— • 

CLII. 

And yet she did not boldly make it known 
By unbecoming language or attention, 

For female hearts have always felt and shown 
Too much reserve, and far too much invention 

To court our favor ; — methods of their own, 

Which strike at once the dullest comprehension, 

And yet are indefinable, define 

To whom or what they most or least incline. 

CLIII. 

A look, a gesture, or the slightest motion 
Of breath or blood, upon the lip or cheek, 

Will give a much more clear and perfect notion 
Of what they feel than any tongue could speak ; — 

Indeed I know of no sincere emotion 

For which our feeble words are not too weak ; — ■ 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 83 

The heart's best language flashes from the eye, 
And its most audible breathing is a sigh. 

CLIV. 

It's scarcely necessary I should add 
That this electric rhet'ric of the soul 

Was known to Linda and St. Charles : they had, 
Indeed, improved upon it as a whole ; 

For often, when the weather was not bad, 
Or a bright moon invited them, they stole 

From their companions, and conversed for hours, 

And yet were silent as the stars or flowers. 



CLV. 

But they were doom'd to learn the bitter truth 
Of Shakspeare's adage, which assures us that 

" The course of true love never did run smooth, "- 
And never will, he might have added, — what 

With crusty parents, who forget their youth, 
Prudes who delight in scandal and a cat, 

And jealous rivals, there is quite enough 

111 wind to make its smoothest current rough. 



84 GAUDALOUPE : 

CLVI. 

I wish their case had proven an exception 

To this sad rule ; but then her father frown'd 

Upon their love, and gave a cold reception • 
To Eandolph, while a rustic rival found 

Means to avenge himself for his rejection 

By whispering slanders of them both around, 

Which were, of course, repeated with additions, 

And yet were nothing more than mere suspicions. 

CLVIL 

But envy and detraction only made 

Them cling still closer than they clung before, 
And those who wish'd to part them thus displayed 

The weakness they pretended to deplore ; 
It's very strange that people first degrade 

Those whom they would to virtue's path restore, 
When all experience proves that such a course 
Excites and only makes them ten times worse. 

CLVIII. 

And what is more to be regretted still, 
The "unco' godly" are so indiscreet 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 85 

As, by their very homilies, to fill 

Our heads with fancies dangerous to our feet ; 
For while they tell us we must curb the will, 

And fly from pleasures which, if sins, are sweet, 
They paint those sins, intending to alarm us, 
In such warm colors that they really charm us. 

CLIX. 

Was love a crime ? "Was it a sin to walk 

Abroad in Princeton, morning, noon or night, 

With one she loved ? Or was it wrong to talk 
Of earthly hopes or joys ? Is nothing right 

But what must mortify the flesh, and balk 
The spirit in its musing or its flight ? — 

Were questions Linda asked, but could not gather 

The slightest satisfaction from her father. 

CLX. 

She then appeal'd, with many touching tears, 
In hope of consolation, to her mother, 

But she could only say " she had her fears, 

And did not know why a mere child should 

bother 

8 



86 GUADALOUPE : 

Her head or heart about such things, — her years 

Were much too green to cherish any other 
Than filial love, and there was serious danger 
In listening to the nonsense of a stranger. 

CLXL 

" And who was this fine, dashing fellow who 
Was call'd, or call'd himself, St. Charles? — a 
saint 

Indeed ! — the college held but few, 

And from some rumors, and, in fact, complaint 

About his pranks and practices, she knew 
He was not one of them, and some restraint 

Must now be placed on Linda, just to save her 

From suffering for her indiscreet behavior." 

CLXII. 

And Linda was for several weeks debar'd 
All intercourse with masculine society, 

A punishment she deem'd exceeding hard, 

For though there possibly was more propriety 

In feminine embraces, she preferr'd 

In kissing, as in cooking, some variety, — 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 87 

Her female friends no doubt were very kind, 

But could not grant tlie joys for which she pined. 

CLXIII. 

She sigh'd throughout the day, and wept all night ; 

Her books were left unread, her harp neglected ; 
She seldom spoke, and ceased to take delight 

Even in the flowers she rear'd, and quite dejected 
She lost at last her strength and appetite, 

As if the air she breath'd had been infected. — 
But I am glad to say her very grief, 
Instead of killing, brought its own relief. 

CLXIV. 

For when her rosy cheeks grew thin and pale, 
Her parents were alarmed and half repented 

That they had listened to each idle tale, 
Which jealousy or gossip had invented ; 

And when they saw her health and spirits fail, 
Their rigor and severity relented, 

And Linda was once more, with joy restored 

To life and love and him she most adored. 



00 GUADALOUPE : 

CLXV. 

Though somewhat saddened by their recent losses, 
St. Charles and Linda took the shortest way 

Of making up their large and heavy losses 
In love and happiness, — as gourmands pay — 

"With interest — in the shape of spice and sauces, 
Their stinted stomachs, when some weary day 

Of fasting, sickness or remorse has past, 

And brings again a bountiful repast. 

m 

CLXVI. 

And then the little world in which they moved 
Eesumed its wonted gaiety ; — their friends, — 

Even some who had but recently reproved 
Their indiscretion, — strove to make amends 

For their ill treatment, and perhaps they loved 
Them better now, as persecution tends 

To elevate its objects, and all factions 

Atone for their excesses in reactions ! 

CLXVII. 

How Eandolph bore himself in his affliction, 
Or how he felt and acted when it ended, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 89 

Can only be inferred ; a dim conviction 
In one of the Professors who attended 

His class ; that he had shown a predeliction 
For errors which should be at once amended, 

Produced some lectures, and the mild appliances 

Of extra doses of the moral sciences. 



CLXVIII. 

Short commons and restraints have great effect 
In curing errors of the youthful blood, 

And Eandolph soon became so circumspect, 
Under the discipline, that no one could 

In conversation or in act detect 

A fault or flaw, — until again he stood 

Fair with the faculty, but if sincere 

Or not, I won't assume to settle here. 



CLXIX. 

It is sufficient I should state the fact, 

And leave to time such further explanation 
Of the real faith and merit of the act, 

As those who follow me in this narration 

8* 



90 GUADALOUPE : 

May seek or need ; indeed I've little tact 

In scanning motives or in divination, 
And take events just as I chance to find them, 
With little question what may lurk behind them. 

CLXX. 

Their trials past, our lovers met once more, 

And mingled in the pleasures floating round 
them ; 

With the same joyous spirits as before 

Each city ball and rustic pic-nic found them, 

And though in public their deportment bore 

Few of the signs of that deep love which bound 
them, 

They did not always lack some fit occasions 

Of making more congenial demonstrations. 

CLXXI. 

When Love and Learning wander hand in hand 
They make our path in youth a fair and bright 
one, 
And though sometimes the way is winding, and 
Not what the old and wise would call the right 
one, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 91 

If made, like those at Princeton, in the sand, 
An erring foot-print is at least a light one, 
And disappears beneath the passing showers 
Of genial skies, and yields to spring's first flowers. 

CLXXIL 

It is no wonder, then, that Princeton's shades, 
Tims mingling with their charms of Attic lore, 

The brighter beauties of such witching maids, 
Should still to Freshman and to Sophomore 

Be dear, or that the dim and deep arcades 
Of the old forests that around it soar 

Should seem as fair as the Gargettian's grove. 

And breathe as pure an air of life and love. 

CLXXIII. 

Nor is it to be wonder'd at that he, 

Our ardent hero, soon so far progress'd 

In logic, morals and philosophy, 

And all the arts with which our schools are 
blessed, 

As to attain a very high degree, 

And was, moreover, flattered and caress 'd 



92 GAUDALOUPE : 

For the extent and soundness of his knowledge, 
Gather'd outside, as well as in ; the college. 

CLXXIV. 

His skill in logic very clearly shone 

In proving that whatever he most wanted 

Was really, truly, and in fact his own, — 
For while his burning eloquence enchanted, 

And all his soul seem'd into language thrown, 
His premises were always promptly granted, 

And his conclusions were so very clear 

You could not deem them anything but fair. 



CLXXV. 

For instance, — but I'm only now supposing 
A case which probably did not arise, — 

But just imagine him for onc,e reposing 

On some fair lap — say Linda's — while the skies 

Their starry curtains are around him closing, 
And the sweet light of loved and loving eyes, 

Whose lustre makes the brightest stars seem dim, 

Now shine above, and fondly gaze on him. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 93 

CLXXVI. 

Suppose him asking of those eyes a boon. — 
A kiss, a token, pledge or, what you will, — 

And lo ! how freely, ardentty and soon 
The gift repays his eloquence and skill ; — 

" Oh ! light of Love, whose warm and cheering 
noon 
Is all I ask of life and youth to fill 

My days with happiness, say wilt thou crown 

My hopes with smiles, or crush them with a 
frown ? 



CLXXVII. 

" Thy smiles are sunshine, and thy frown the 
storm, — 

That lights to being, this but leads to death, — 
And thou, alone, my soul canst wake and warm 

And give my bosom vital hope and breath ; 
Say wilt thou weave for me this glowing charm 

Of life,— or doom me to despair beneath 
Thy cold neglect, — 'tis thine to save or slay, 
And make my world eternal night or day ? 



94 GUADALOUPE 



CLXXVIII. 



" If then, thou wouldst not heedlessly destroy 
A soul so much, so wholly in thy power, 

Lift it at once to life, and hope, and joy, 

And heaven shall bless and sanctify the hour ; 

While, in the future, shall the archer boy 

Bestrew our path with many a cheering flower, 

To glad our footsteps with their varied bloom 

Or soothe our slumbers with their sweet perfume." 

CLXXIX- 

With syllogistic argument relieving 

His burning lips, he thus closed his appeal, — 

" Young hearts, (his major,) were not made for 
grieving, 
And ours, (his minor,) are still fresh, and feel 

This happy truth, and (therefore) thus believing 
'Tis vain the dear conclusion to conceal, — 

If not for grief, we must be born to prove 

The joys that spring from mutual faith and love ! n 

CLXXX. 

Of course the proof was satisfactory, 

And she at once admitted the conclusion ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR, 95 

What else could any maid do but agree 

With love and logic pour'd in such profusion 

Into a willing ear ? or how could she 
Suppose his passion was a mere illusion, 

When all he uttered seem'd so very real, — 

And surely what true lovers say, they feel ! 

CLXXXI. 

Ah me ! how many a simple-minded maid, 
With just this sort of unsuspecting reason 

To the undoing of her hopes betrayed 

Drinks with delight love's sophistry and treason, 

When, if her lover's words were justly weighed, 
Her prudent counsels would not fail to seize on 

Their true import, and save from spoil or harm 

Each treasured hope and every blooming charm ! 

CLXXXII. 

" Oh ye of little faith I" beware the fire 

Prepared for doubters in the world to come ; 

Yours is a cheerless path through mud and mire, — - 
A life of chilling frosts and sunless gloom, — 



96 GAUDALOUPE : 

But, ye too credulous creatures of desire, 

Beware an equal, though an earthly doom ! 
'Tis yours to waste your days in burning dreams, 
Nor taste of joy, except in fitful gleams ! 

CLXXXIII. 

And, oh ! ye unsophisticated misses, 
Who, whether jilt or jilted, still believe 

The glowing promises of endless blisses 

Which sighing lovers ever breathe, I grieve 

To think how often you will find their kisses, 
Like those of Judas, given to deceive, 

And that their oaths, sighs, promises and pledges 

Are only misery's gilded entering wedges. 

CLXXXIV. 

Than some, I grant, no saint could be more pure, 
But like angelic visits, these are few, 

And, what is more deplorable, still fewer 
Who, true at first, continue to be true ; 

Time, change of climate, fortune, all obscure 
Their graven vows, and mar the tablets, too ; 

The very best of them need constant watching, — 

The worst are worse than any eels for catching. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 97 
CLXXXV. 

In truth, a lover's heart is like the moon, — 
Above the earth, and yet no part of heaven ; 

Amid the clouds and vapors that festoon 

Their airy orbits, they are whirl'd and driven, 

Between conflicting forces that too soon 

In darkness wrap the beams to either given ; — 

While each is glorious only in the night, 

And shine at best but in reflected light. 

CLXXXVI. 

But I am wandering from my story's theme 
And must return again. I left my lovers 

Just as each waking from a pleasant dream, 
New charms in t'other all at once discovers : 

But lest their conduct in the least should seem 
Suspicious, I'll dispel the doubt that hovers 

Around them, if indeed a doubt can find 

A place in any candid reader's mind. 

CLXXXVII. 

We left them, I repeat in that sweet mood 

When, pleased themselves, and happy in each other, 



98 GUADALOUPE : 

They felt a new-born spirit warm their blood, 
They could not analyse and would not smother, 

And Linda being as confident as good, 

Pour'd out her heart in words as to a brother, 

Not dreaming there was any harm in telling 

The thoughts that from her guileless heart were 
swelling. 

CLXXXVIII. 

Indeed she almost deem'd herself alone 

In some sweet bower or mansion of the blest, 

Where she might hold communion with her own 
Unsullied soul, without one envious guest 

To darken or destroy the light that shone, 

In golden dreams, through her delighted breast, 

And what she said or murmur'd, I am clear, 

Was not intended for another's ear. 

CLXXXIX. 

But still her gentle murmurings were heard 
By one whose every rapt and eager sense 

Drank in each sigh, and thrill'd with every word 
She breathed or whispered ; and the eloquence 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 99 

Of her bright cheek and eye within him stirr'd 
The very fountains of those passions, whence 
Love springs to being, and to lead or blind, 
Warms, dazzles, blesses or betrays mankind, 

cxc. 

What 'twas she said or sigh'd, I won't pretend, 
With any kind of certainty, to mention, 

Nor what he did, to name ; I apprehend 

Both may be gness'd, with very slight invention, 

But lest I should be called on to defend 
This observation from misapprehension, 

I here protest, with most emphatic stress 

Against th' injustice of a wicked guess. 

CXCI. 

Perhaps one long and burning kiss was given ; 

Perhaps, — but I'm not certain, — they embraced ; 
Perhaps their thoughts were more of earth than 
heaven, — 
That's probable, — and that their hopes were 
placed, 



100 GAUDALOUPE : 

Less in those crowns for which, the saints have 
striven, 
Than in those promises, so clearly traced 
On their young hearts by rosy Love's bright finger, 
And in whose faith they would forever linger. 

CXCII. 

And if when this, their first love's earliest dream, 
Had passed its radiant but too fleeting noon, 

They, trembling, sank beneath its melting beam, 
And in a soft and soothing languor soon 

Forgot the world, — let not the envious deem 
Them guilty thus to share so sweet a boon ; — ■ 

For one may take a very harmless nap 

Pillowed upon a pure and gentle lap. 

CXCIII. 

How long their calm and innocent repose 

Might, if not suddenly disturbed, have lasted, 

I know not, but I grieve to say they rose, 

Startled, to see their brightest visions blasted ; 

Closed round by several unrelenting foes 
To joys they were suspected to have tasted, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 101 



They woke amid a torcli-glare to discover 
An angry father and a jealous lover ; — 



CXCIV. 

And with them a demure and sly professor 
Of ethics, who, invet'rately pragmatic, 

Delighted to expose each young transgressor, 
And punish the mischievous and erratic ; 

Besides some six or seven spies of lesser 
Importance, who, as piously emphatic 

In dealing out anathemas to sinners, — 

Loved scandal better than they did their dinners. 



CXCV. 

Of course they made a scene ; — of course the sire 
Swore, as he raved, enough to shock a saint ; 

While Linda, trembling at the old man's ire, 
Scarcely knew whether she should fly or faint ; 

St. Charles waxed warm, but smother 'd up his fire 
Until his sneaking rival, whose complaint 

Brought this pursuit, was near enough to feel 

The iron vengeance of his hand and heel. 

9* 



102 GUADALOUPE : 

CXCVI. 

Then dealing one resistless, hearty blow 

He felled the meddling miscreant to the ground, 

And though there was no very copious flow 
Of blood from such an unexpected wound, 

There was enough to let the others know 
They ran some risk in hemming thus around 

A strong and fearless youth, who stood beside 

One for whose sake he would have freely died. 

cxcvn. 

They, therefore, prudently resolved to treat, 
And try the influence of expostulation, 

But lifting Linda gently from his feet, 

Where she had crept and crouch'd in trepidation 

Eandolph exclaimed "I am prepared to meet 
And answer any, every accusation 

Your malice may suggest, but this is not, 

For such a scene, the most appropriate spot. 

CXCVIII. 

" Your daughter, sir, I will at once return 
To your parental arms, although I'd rather 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 103 

Eetain her still in mine ; I blush and burn 
With shame, to see her indiscreet old father 

Expose so sweet a creature to the scorn 
Of the vile gossips that around him gather, 

To witness the reproach he casts upon her, 

In thus insisting on his own dishonor. 

CXCIX. 

" Go, take her, she is yours, — she might be mine 
If you were wise or she were free," — "No never!" 

Eeplied the sire, " shall such a flow'ret twine 
Its blossoms round thy trunk again, or ever 

Within the shadows of a libertine 

Wither and fade away, and thus I sever 

The tie that bound her to thee, and may heaven 

Cast thee, as I do from me, unforgiven." 



CC. 

Upon the word, the angry father rushed 

To where his trembling child bewildered stood, 

With senses stun'd and spirits almost crushed, 
And bore her off; the gossips all cried "good," — 



101 gaudaloupe: 

But in a moment every tongue was hush'd, 

As, turning, they beheld the mounting blood 
Of Kandolph tinge his cheek, — to phrenzy stir'd 
By the deep malice of that dubious word. 

CCI. 

Poor Linda shrieked and struggled, but in vain ; 

The hands that held her in their friendly clasp, 
And bound her in their amiable chain 

Would not forego the kindness of their grasp ; — 
Their love was manifested by its pain, 

Like that of hapless Cleopatra's asp, 
Which in the most accommodating way, 
Kept every foe, except itself, at bay. 

ecu. 

As you may guess, the whole affair soon went, 
From mouth to mouth, the neighborhood around, 

While every gossip, once upon the scent 
For scandal, took the cry up like a hound, 

And when at fault, turned only to invent 
Additions to the tale, 'till Eandolph found 

Himself the hero of at least a score 

Of scrapes he had not dream'd about before. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAK. 105 

CCIII. 

The sequel was to him a final leave 

Of absence from the college, though but then 

Scarce three years there : — for this he did not grieve, 
But never to behold her face again 

Caused him a pang, which nothing could relieve, 
Save time, the comforter, who soothes us, when 

No other friend or counsel can impart 

Hope, joy or peace to an o'erburthen'd heart. 

CCIV. 

Poor Linda, still in tears, with all dispatch, 
"Was sent away to a remote relation, — 

A maiden aunt, — whose hospitable thatch 
Secured a shelter from renew'd temptation ; 

And where her prudent friends arranged a match, 
Whose sudden close and speedy consummation 

So dazzled and o'erjoyed her rustic lover, 

He never dream'd that he was but a cover. 

CCV. 

Eandolph returned to his parental roof 
In the rich teeming valley of fair York, 



106 GUADALOUPE : 

And for a season kept himself aloof, 

From company, that solitude might work 

A cure for disappointments, which are proof 
Against the balm of counsel, and still lurk 

Beneath the smiles which pride or duty wears, 

To blind the world, or ward its friendly cares. 

CCVL 

But he was not of that unhappy frame 

Of mind or temper that could long despond ; 

And soon their wonted warmth and spirit came 
Back to his eye and cheek again, beyond 

The power of melancholy to reclaim ; 

In short, he felt the force of nature's bond, 

And so, with all his strength of soul and heart, 

Eesolved once more to play his proper part, 

CCVII. 

In life's great drama, and if he could not 
Forget the pain of its first stirring scene, 

He was determin'd not to mar the plot 

Which, or by providence or fate, had been 



A TALE OF LOVE ANL> WAR. 107 

Plan'd for his destiny, career or lot: 

As doctors doubt the "uses of the spleen, 
He more than doubted that to be splenetic 
Was either very pleasant or pathetic. 

CCVIII. 

lie therefore gave himself once more to those 
Congenial and approved pursuits that fling 

Flowers on the tide in which existence flows 
From the bright sunny fountains of its spring, 

And which not only dissipate our woes, 
But very often in their progress bring 

Such sweet suggestions of a present bliss 

That former joys seem dull compar'd with this. 

CCIX. 

And one such happy inspiration came 

In Ada's form to fix his wandering gaze, — 

To wake with new-born life, the smouldering flame 
Of love within him, 'till its kindling blaze 

Should warm him to a sense of the true aim 
Of his proud being, or, with colder rays, 



108 GAUDALOUPE I 

Dazzle awhile his quick and eager sight, 
And leave him to a darker, deeper night. 

ccx. 

Ada was young and beautiful ; her eyes 

Were large and pensive, and as bright a blue 

As ever lighted up Italian skies : 

Her wavy hair was of the raven's hue, 

Her lip, the corals ; while the rosy dyes 

Of health, in all its freshness, sparkled through 

Her cheek, and gave to quite a charming face 

A constant, though an ever varying grace. 

CCXI. 

Her form was light and airy, and she seem'd 
A being born to love and be beloved ; — 

Just such a one of whom we all have dream'd 
In boyhood, ere our sad experience proved 

That the fair creatures whom we angels cleem'd 
Were merely human ! — and it well behoved 

Our hero, when he met her, to beware 

The risk of gazing upon one so fair. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 109 



CCXII. 

And Kandolph felt the force of such attractions : 
At first but as a mere spectator might, 

For he still thought of Linda, and his actions 
In Ada's presence merely seemed polite; 

But, though he struggled against such reactions 
He could not school himself to master quite 

A love for Ada, which indeed grew stronger 

With every check, 'till 'twould be check'd no 
longer. 

CCXIII. 

Indeed he soon began to doubt the truth 
Of all his dreams of Linda, and debated 

"Whether she had a being, or, in sooth, 
Was not some vision fancy had created 

To wile away the idle hours of youth : 

Of this he was quite sure, that love was dated 

In him with Ada's happy advent, and 

All former passions seem'd but " stairs of sand." 

CCXIV. 

But I will neither hint nor indicate 

The fortune fate had yet for him in store, 
10 



110 GUADALOUPE7 

It spoils a story to anticipate 

Its moral or catastrophe, before 
The proper time ; and so I neither state 

What may or may not happen, and I more 
Than doubt if he had perfectly recover'd 
Prom his first love, — but that must be discovered. 



ccxv. 

First love, they say, is ever pure and strong, 
And with undying constancy survives 

Youth, beauty, fame and fortune, but among 
The multitude of husbands and of wives, 

Lovers and maids, old, middle aged or young, 
Thrice jilted or twice married, no one gives 

The slightest clue to tell us why or whence is 

This mystic passion, or when it commences. 



CCXVI. 

If you appeal to those who have been married, 
And, now divorced or widow'd, feel anew 

The happy inspiration which they carried 
To hymen's altar when their years were few, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAK. Ill 

They'll tell you youthful indiscretion hurried 

Their early choice ; £tnd that they never knew 
What true love was, 'till, by experience wise, 
They found it more in purses than in eyes. 

CCXVII. 

Old maids protest, — and I will not dispute 

Their allegations, — that their hearts can never 

Throb twice to love's sweet touch, but, like a lute, 
Once rudely broken, is unstrung forever ; 

And yet I know not one who'd scorn the suit 
Of an old bachelor, if rich and clever ;— 

Not that they sigh for love's long lost delights, 

But, — -just to cheer their lonely winter nights. 

CCXVIII. 

I don't mean to reflect upon the sex, 

In thus appending to their faith a practice 

Common to all, for bachelors perplex 

The question mooted quite as much, the fact is 

The subject is so subtle and complex 

That the most patient searcher would distract his 

Brains to no purpose, to attempt to prove 

How often, when, or why we mortals love. 



112 GUADALOUPE 



CCXIX. 



The truth, is, — just as every one may find it 
In his or her own case, — the heart is not 

Obedient to the will, nor can we bind it 
To any fixed philosophy or spot ; 

Pursuing meteors which mislead and blind it, 
It wanders often without aim or plot, 

And in the lab'rinths which its hopes derange, 

Is only constant to a constant change. 

ccxx. 

But I have really nothing more to do 

With human hearts in general, than t 'explain 

The course my hero may henceforth pursue 
In that almost inexplicable chain 

Of circumstances, which we all pass through 
Before the grave or goal of life we gain ; 

And so, lest my philosophy should bore ye 

I'll let my hero finish out the story. 

ccxxi. 

Yet I must first in justice here premise 
That Ada was not only fair and pretty, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAE. 113 

But to the charms of form, and grace, and eyes, 
Added the mental worth of being witty ; 

Born beneath Maryland's warm, sunny skies, 
And nurtured in the Monumental City, 

She joined the powers of nature and of art 

To grace her manners and expand her heart. 

CCXXII. 

How, when or where they met, I need not state ; 

For when such meetings end in love, the place, 
The manner, circumstances and the date 

Are unimportant, so I will not trace 
The progress of their wooing, nor narrate 

How every day developed some new grace 
In each, until inseparable grown, 
Their very beings melted into one. 

CCXXIII. 

And wandering over hills, by purling streams, 

Or musing in the light of some bright star, 

They lived but in the sweet and golden dreams 

Of love and hope, until, as if to mar 
10* 



114 guadaloupe: 

And rob their future of its sunny beams, 

Came the dark clouds and the wild notes of war, 
And Kandolph, waking to ambition, found 
New inspiration in that thrilling sound. 

CCXXIV. 

He grew, I say, ambitious, and he sought 
With all the ardor natural to his age, 

That crown of glory which, by valor bought, 
Outshines the colder honors of the sage, 

And battle's heavy breath to him came fraught 
With Fame's rich perfume only, and to wage 

War in his country's high and holy cause 

Seem'd full of promise of a world's applause. 

ccxxv. 

In this he felt and acted like most men 

Just entering on life's rough and thorny way, 

When every motive tends to good, and when 
Our fellows seem the characters they play : 

" Our Country" and "the world," are words which 
then 
Inspire our hearts with more than magic sway ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 115 

And if to strike for that, may win renown 

From this, what care we who may sneer or frown ? 

CCXXVI. 

It is, I know, a glorious task to plead 

The cause of helpless innocence, when wrong 

And power assail it ; and when, in their need, 
The weak appeal for succor 'gainst the strong, 

To save is noble, — but the warrior's meed, — 
The dazzling triumph, and the grateful song, — 

That crowns and sanctifies victorious arms, 

Will ever wear, to youth, more winning charms. 

CCXXVII. 

And even older heads are apt to turn 

Their thoughts from civic labors to the martial, 
When, rendered wise by long neglect, they learn 

That man in nothing else is so impartial 
As when repaying with contempt and scorn 

His benefactors, and resolve that war shall 
Square their accounts of unrequited good, 
And wash his sins and vices out in blood. 



116 GUADALOUPE: 



CCXXVIII. 



It is a pity that ingratitude 

Should turn the current of our best intentions 
Back on our hearts, to mar the little good 

That lurks within them, and that all pretentions 
To multiply earth's stores of wealth and food, 

By art's most civil and sublime inventions, 
Should be regarded with less favor than 
The schemes that crush, — the skill that slaughters 
man. 

CCXXIX. 

Yet such has been earth's policy and practice ; 

So Coriolanus, driven from his home 
By a base mob, was forced to re-enact his 

Unequal'd prowess 'gainst that very Eome 
His sword had saved and glorified ; the fact is 

So little glory from our virtues come, 
That rising heroes have become quite callous 
Whether they mount a pulpit, throne or gallows. 

ccxxx. 

I will not urge the justice or the moral 

Of the effect or cause, — both may be right ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 117 

At least the world so acts, and I'll not quarrel 
With, its proceedings, though, perhaps, I might ; 

For if man's woes, wants, crimes and sufferings are 
all 
Mere accidents in Time's remorseless flight, — 

As it would seem, — he who would stay their course 

Is but a dreamer, if not something worse. 

CCXXXI. 

I know that he who would remove a cancer, 
Eeform an age, or cure a tooth-ache, must 

Conceal the instrument, or he may answer 
With his own head for being kind or just, 

And he who would a principle advance, or 
Do aught to lift mankind up from the dust. 

Or give advice which creed or party shocks, 

Will find his kindness well repaid in knocks. 

CCXXXII. 

I've tried it, and I know the bitter fact ; 

I know, too, that the fear of doing evil 
Is more applauded than a virtuous act, 

Done with the sole desire of being civil. 



118 GUADALOUPE : 

And he who, with a non-committal tact, 

Seems most a saint when most he plays the devil 
Will win the highest honors and rewards 
Which man to cant so willingly accords. 

CCXXXIII. 

But war- won glories are substantial things, 

Such as may occupy a manly soul ; 
They form and feed the highest hopes of kings, 

Illumine art, spread commerce, and control 
Man's highest destinies, while history brings 

The brightest offerings of her glowing scroll 
To those who mount, amid a peal of groans, 
From fields of blood, to pow'r and fame and thrones. 

CCXXXIV. 

What matters it that fabled Justice poises 

An even scale, and wears a threatening sword? 

Hood-wink'd, she in her ears alone rejoices, 

And must, of course, take men upon their word, 

And those who have the most persuasive voices, 
Though black as sin, may win her to accord 

Eenown, wealth, power, preferment, place and fame, 

While modest merit, silent, droops in shame. 



A TALE: OF LOVE AND WAR. 119 

ccxxxv. 

And so ambition, even though honest, turns 

From the obscure and weed-grown paths of peace, 

Where Virtue's taper lights so dimly burn 
They seem but set to show its darknesses, 

And in the light of worldly wisdom learns 
To look for good alone in victories, 

Wrung by a strong and daring hand from those 

Whom passion, law or faith proclaims its foes. 

CCXXXVL 

The patient vigils which invention keeps, 
That she may to a thankless world unfold 

The treasures that lie hid in ocean's deeps, 

Or earth's rich mines of bright and tempting gold, 

Bring no reward ; for what cares he that sleeps 
In idle ease for those who tempt the cold, 

The pain and weariness of all such toil ? 

Their lot is but to labor, — his, the spoil ! 

CCXXXVII. 

Success alone is virtue, and the man 
Who can achieve it, at whatever cost, 



120 GUADALOUPE : 

Shall rank among the greatest ; — if he can 
But win the general voice, although he boast 

Nor skill nor merit human praise shall fan 
His aspirations to the uttermost 

Of their up reaching, as the Gallic herd 

Now laud their great Napoleon the Third ! 

CCXXXVIII. 

His case is quite in point, for we remember 
His pitiless imprisonment at Ham, ( 18 ) 

Where, o'er his royal hopes' last dying ember, 
He heard his princely name pronounced a sham ; 

But, lo ! how one short night in dark December, 
A coup d'etat, a bold, successful flam, 

Has changed his fortunes ; and behold the men 

Now sing his praise who ridiculed him then. 



CCXXXIX. 

Who frowns then, if my hero grasps the brand 
His sturdy father wore and wielded well 

At Saratoga, when the groaning land 
Ean crimson with the blood of foes that fell 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 121 

Upon that field, as to the reaper's hand 

Falls the ripe grain ? shall Mexico not tell 
As proud a tale of deeds of valor done 
By that bright falchion wielded by the son ? 

CCXL. 

Let them frown on, he only heeds the call 
Of duty in the stirring cry " to arms !" 

And yet his heart confessed a gentler thrall 
And own'd an equal spell in Ada's charms ! 

And thus, as fortune ever deals with all 

Whose genial souls each kindlier impulse warms, 

He stood perplexed between that sense of duty, 

And this sweet influence of persuasive beauty. 

CCXLI. 

Which shall he follow ? — rugged man will say 
" Let weeping beauty spread her wiles in vain, 

And never with a kiss or smile betray 
The patriot to the lover's golden chain !" 

While woman, living in the bright to-day, 

Would win him wholly to her bless'd domain, 

Where only Love, amid a world of flowers, 

.Rules the rapt heart and leads the laughing hours. 

11 



122 guadaloupe: 



CCXLII. 



Alas ! that love and duty should so often 
Lead our unsteady steps in differing ways ! 

Sure love was given to mitigate and soften 
The sterner calls of duty, and displays 

Its power for good, when, lifting us aloft on 

Hopes that have wings, we jump the weary maze 

Of plodding toil ; and proves a snare indeed, 

When it would charm us only to mislead. 

CCXLIII. 

But sometimes its perverseness is but seeming, 
Because we will not listen to its voice ; 

Certes, a god whose impulses are teeming 

With all we count most gen'rous, can't rejoice 

In urging us astray ; we err in deeming 
That love impels us ever to the choice 

Of what our duty would reject ; he may 

Sometimes bewilder, but will not betray. 

CCXLIV. 

And thus our hero proved, as now he turn'd 
From Ada's arms to dare the lists of fame ; 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 123 

For though his high and noble spirit burn'd 
With manly ardor, when the summons came 

That call'd him to the battle-field, he learn'd 
That love and duty are in truth the same ; 

And that the grief a hero might discover 

To leave his mistress, only proved the lover. 

CCXLV. 

Their parting was like other partings are, 
When kindred hearts are sever'd for awhile, 

Full of forebodings, doubts and fears that mar 
And crush the hopes we cherish'd to beguile 

Our happier moments, when love's polar star 
Shone out undimm'd, and nature wore a smile 

Where'er we gazed, while, brighter than her skies 

Beam'd on and through us loved and loving eyes. 

CCXLVI. 

And yet they did not rave in tender madness, 
Nor " make a scene," like widows when they mean 

To show, by public and unseemly sadness 

Over their dear dead lords, that they have been 



124 GUADALOUPE : 

Most cruelly bereaved, — and haying had less 

Of joys connubial than they should have seen, 
Prove by their grief that such bereavement merits 
A kindly hand to " bind their broken spirits." 

CCXLVII. 

Nor had they learned to look for consolation 
In other smiles, for those now turned to tears, 

To seek in heartless amours and flirtation 

That wretched substitute for love, which wears 

The heart away to dust and desolation, 

And mocks us most even when it most appears 

To soothe or charm ; for these are tricks of time 

With which old sinners compromise with crime. 

CCXLVIII. 

But he was young and brave, she pure and fair, 
And both were happy in the golden dreams 

That love and hope with youth and beauty share ; 
No cloud had yet obscured the cheering beams 

That lighted up their future, 'till dispair 
Came now at parting, which to either seems 

The grave of every joy — the present, past — 

And if their first, oh ! will it be their last ? 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 125 

CCXLIX. 

I grieve to think such hearts should ever know 
Anght of the changes time delights to bring ; 

The doubts, the jealousies which weed-like grow 
In the damp shadows of his ruthless wing, 

"Which in their poisonous exhalations throw 

A blight on all the flowers of life's glad spring ; — 

Oh ! that a draught from youth's perennial stream 

Might render real and lasting " love's young dream." 

CCL. 

I do not mean to throw suspicion on 
Their present vows of future constancy, 

For, though I dread the perils they must run, 
I will not question their fidelity ; 

And yet, I must confess, if they could shun 
The accidents of absence, I should be 

More confident, — but why anticipate 

What may or may not be their faith or fate ? 

CCLI. 

I will not say he was a paragon 

Of excellence in all things, or pretend 



126 GUADALOUPE: 

That she of frailties or of faults had none, 
For there are few in whom the virtues blend 

Without alloy of vice ; — from sire to son 
We all are born to err ; and, in the end, 

The human race, with all its good and evil, 

Will vary little from a general level. 

CCLII. 

I will not paint the woe with which they parted, 
I will not echo here their bitter sighs, — 

It is enough that she seemed broken hearted, — 
Of course, — and he could scarce command his 
eyes, 

To which a manly tear of sorrow started, 

And told the feelings he would fain disguise ; — 

I leave these tender touches of emotion 

To every reader's sympathetic notion. 

CCLIII. 

But while I thus their private grief suppress, 
I can't forego the pleasure of imparting 

The nobler sentiments of their distress, 

Because, although with unfeign'd anguish smart- 
ing, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 127 

They show'd more wisdom if their tears were less, 

Than many lovers do at such a parting, 
And their example to the world commends 
Itself, — I, therefore, give it to my friends. 

CCLIV. 

"I go, dear Ada," — thus our hero said, 
As struggling to repress his sadness, he 

Embraced and soothed the still disponding maid, — 
" To meet my country's enemies, and be 

One of that band that never yet betray'd 
Her soil or people, but whose chivalry 

Has been the bulwark of her hope and power 

In fortune's direst day and darkest hour. 

CCLV. 

".I go, with willing heart and ready hand, 
To battle in that country's hallow 'd cause, 

Not as a mercenary, whose vile brand 
A hireling's mean ambition only draws, 

But as a soldier, faithful to the land 
That gives him liberty and equal laws, 



128 GUADALOUPE : 

And though our parting grieves her, still I feel 
My Ada will not chide her patriot's zeal. 

CCLYI. 

" And when her Eandolph shall triumphant come 
Back to her arms, his glad and proud return 

Will dissipate the grief, and break the gloom 
That now oppress her, and she then will learn 

How brightly all our earthly joys can bloom 
When water'd by our tears, — how hope may burn 

When fan'd by sighs, and how the heart forgets, 

In new found bliss, its former fond regrets. 

CCLVII. 

" Then shall our hands as now our hearts are, be 
Forever joined, and $11 our future prove 

One smooth, clear current of felicity, 

Whose surface, flashing in the light of love, 

Shall ever mirror cloudless skies, and we 
The lightest things that on its bosom move, 

Bemembering not, in joys that then shall bless, 

The grief that mars our present happiness. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAK. 129 

CCLVIII. 

" The sadness that impends shall pass away — 
The love we own forever shall endure, — 

That comes and goes with every fleeting day, — 
This burns eternal, ever bright and pure, — 

Not as a meteor, whose flickering ray 

Night's chilling vapors quench, and mists obscure, 

But as a gen'rous, self-illumin'd sun, 

That warms and gladdens all it shines upon. 

CCLIX. 

" Then lift thy bright blue eye with hope once more 
Above the sorrows of the passing hour, 

Up to that heaven which shines so sweetly o'er 
Thy drooping head ! — like the reviving flow'r, 

Whose gentle crest is bow'd in grief before 
The boding storm, but rises from the show'r 

More bright and beautiful, thy heart shall borrow 

New light and life from war's victorious morrow." 

CCLX. 

" But, oh !" — the weeping maiden thus replied, — ■ 
"If that glad morrow should not o'er us shed 



130 GUADALOUPE : 

Its look'd for light ?— if battle's crimson tide 
Should roll above my noble Randolph's head, 

What then shall cheer or soothe his plighted bride ? 
Fame cannot teach us to forget the dead, 

And widow'd hearts can only find relief 

In death or madness from an unfeign'd grief. 

CCLXI. 

" And yet I cannot, will not, bid thee stay, 
Or weaken with my girlish fears thy hand, 

But cry ' God speed thee' in the noble way 
Thy honor points at duty's stern command, 

And if in fear I weep, in hope I'll pray, 

That heaven may shield thee from the foeman's 
brand, 

And, with a speedy, lasting peace, restore 

My laurel'd hero to my arms once more !" 

CCLXII. 

They kiss'd and parted, and I'll not prolong 
The story of their present sorrows, but 

Hasten to other subjects of my song, 
And, with a warlike resolution, put 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 131 

My squadrons in the field, because, ere long, — 

As now our temple's peaceful door is shut, 
And that of war thrown open, — we must beat 
The enemy, or sound a safe retreat ! 

CCLXIII. 

The latter would be difficult to do, 

For many reasons, but, in chief, because 

The simple, single-minded fellows, who 
Prepared the regulations and the laws 

Which rule our armies and inspire them, too, 

Omitted to prescribe, for some good cause, — 
*(Their system 's in all other points complete,) 

The slightest hint or form of a retreat ! 

CCLXIV. 

Such an omission might the laws derange 
Of other lands, addicted to the sword ; 

But our law-makers give us quite a strange 
Interpretation to the very word, 

For in their whole vocabulary's range 

The verb " retreat" is never seen or heard, — 

They use the term but as a noun, to express 

The last parade at evening, calPd "the dress." 



132 GUADALOUPE : 



CCLXV. 



But I must pause awhile, although my lay, 
It must be own'd, is scarcely yet begun ; 

In truth, I did not measure well the way 
O'er which my Pegasus and I should run, 

In this our opening Canto's cantering day, 
And now, admonish'd by the setting sun, 

We'll close our journey with the fading light, 

And, for a season, " bid the world good night." 

CCLXVI. 

To-morrow, if it please you to awake 
The steed and rider, gentle public, we 

Will cheerfully and with new vigor take 
The road again ; but if it should not be 

Your will to hear us further, do not break 
Our slumbers, as we will not care to see 

The sun rise if the morning is not fair, 

But leave us, if you frown, to our despair. 

CCLXVII. 

My Pegasus will grieve, no doubt, to think 
His airy curve ttings and labors vain, 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 133 

While I shall much regret the waste of ink, 
And what is sadder still, the waste of brain ; 

Yet, I presume, he'll not refuse his drink, 

And food ambrosial, and, though it may pain 

My pride to know my toil was misdirected, 

Even if you scowl, I shall not die dejected. 

CCLXVIII. 

To tell the truth, I have a taste for living, 
And estimate applause at its true worth ; 

A sort of free-and-easy temper giving 
A charm even to the vanities of earth — 

Except its glory, which with all our striving 
Scarce lasts beyond the hour that brings it forth — 

When most we merit it, the fates still doom us 

To that most barren of all fame — posthumous. 

CCLXIX. 

What I have written, or may yet indite, 
Was, is, and will be, simply to amuse 

My leisure moments, and, perhaps, to right 
Some wrongs I wot of, though I won't abuse, 

Misrepresent, nor vent my pers'nal spite 

On any creature that walks forth in shoes, 

12 



134 GAUDALOUPE : 

m 

Excepting bards and politicians, who 

Have earn'd my wrath, and may expect it, too. 

CLXX. 

For they are ever in a state of war, 

Lampooning and assailing one another ; 

The best of them wears many a moral scar 

Inflicted, Cain-like, by some envious brother ; — 

With rival schemes in one perpetual jar, 

And jealousies they neither hide nor smother, 

They prove, by turns, in their wild chase of fame, 

Base hounds, bad hunters, and, but sorry game. 

CCLXXI. 

The sable-coated gentlemen professional 

Are mischievous enough, but they are worse, 

For though by forum, clinic and confessional 
These worry us in stomach, faith and purse, 

They neither shock, like orators congressional, 
Nor plague us, like the modern imps of verse, 

Who, while they rob, afflict and vex the nation, 

Insist upon its grateful admiration. 



A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR. 135 

CCLXXIL 

I have no patience with such graceless creatures, 
And mean to scourge them well on all occasions, 

For 'twere in vain to mollify their natures 
By moral arguments, or mild persuasions, 

And the sole saving point in all their features 
Is that they waste themselves by their abrasions, 

As pebbles, chaffing in an angry flood, 

Cut up each other for the general good. 

CCLXXIII. 

My book and motives are, dear public, now 
Before you, for your censure or your praise ; 

If, by your verdict, on my humble brow 
Shall fall the poet's green and glorious bays, 

My song again in tuneful notes shall flow ; 
If not, I'll hoard it up 'till better days 

And fairer critics shall the strain invite, — ■ 

'Till then, once more, with all my heart, " good 
night." 



NOTES TO GU1DALOUPE. 



CANTO I . 



12* 



CANTO FIRST. 



Note 1. — Stanza III. 

"But while a world of headless hands are writing." 
Lord Byron, in resolving the riddle of the authorship of 
the " Letters of Junius," asserts, as his own hypothesis, that 
they were really written by " nobody at all," and adds, 

" I don't see wherefore letters should not be 
Written without hands, since we daily view 
Them written without heads ; and books, we see, 
Are fill'd as well without the latter, too." 

Vision of Judgment. 

Note 2. — Stanza V. 

" The drama is my forte, but gods and men, 
Since Boker's advent, have, in horror, damn'd 
Each luckless wight that wields a tragic pen ;" 

After the laudations, loud and wide, which have been 
heaped upon the plays of Mr. Boker, by newspapers and 
magazines, in and out of Philadelphia, I will not presume to 
set up my private opinion against their public, and, no doubt, 
disinterested judgments. I will not deny that he has ability 



140 NOTES TO GUADALOUPE. 



for dramatic compSwwition. But I would suggest whether 
any young gentleman \)f a " poetic temperament" would not, 
in these latter days, be better employed in some other branch 
of the business. Until Shakspeare shall be forgotten, they 
have a small chance of being remembered. 

Sartain's Magazine for June, 1851, contains a flattering 
essay on Mr. Boker's plays, by Charles GL Leland, in which 
the writer, speaking of the " Betrothal," uses the following 
singular language : " With the single exception of Costanza, 
who is a high, pure, perfect type of maidenhood, worthy of a 
place beside the most exquisite conceptions of Shakspeare, 
there is no character in the entire play very remarkable for 
either originality or elevation." 

This is certainly one of the most extraordinary combina- 
tions of " faint praise," and ultra puffing ever compressed in 
the same compass. 

Mr. Boker has written much miscellaneous matter, in addi- 
tion to his plays, the last, if not the best, of which is an " Ode 
to England," published in the " Philadelphia Evening Bul- 
letin," of March 27, 1855. It was praised by the publisher of 
that journal, and is certainly entitled to be ranked among the 
remarkable productions of this remarkable literary era. I 
give the opening and closing lines, as samples of its coherency, 
logic, elegance of diction, and fitness of allegory ! 

" Oh ! days of shame ! Oh, days of woe ! 

Of helpless shame, of helpless woe ! 
The times reveal thy nakedness, 
Thy utter weakness, deep distress. 
There is no help in all the land : 

Thy eyes may wander to and fro, 
Yet find no succor." 



NOTES TO GUADALOUPE. 141 

After sufficiently deploring this truly deplorable and help- 
less condition of England, Mr. Boker very oddly tells the old 
lady to seek the succor which she can't find, in this wise : 

" Kear up the strong, the feeble lop ;" 
****** 

" I swear the soul still lives in thee ! — 
Down to the lowest atoms drop, 

Down to the very dregs, and stir 
The People to the top !" 



Note 3. — Canto YI. 

"And if that was, of such a mass, the best, 
God help the men who had to read the rest." 

Among the means and appliances adopted by Barnum, 
some years ago, to resuscitate the Crystal Palace, of New 
York, — that wretched imitation of the World's Fair at Lon- 
don, — was an offer of $150 for the best ode, and lesser sums 
for inferior lyrics, — to be sung or chaunted at the galvanic 
revival. It was supposed that these tempting offers would 
stimulate the poetic industry of the nation, and produce some- 
thing really remarkable in the way of lyrical composition. 
In quantity, the committee were gratified to a charm. They 
were completely flooded with the tide of song poured in upon 
them. How they were suited in the quality of the article, 
may be inferred from a perusal of the ode which won for its 
author the aforesaid $150, and immortal renown. Here it is 
in full. 



142 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 



PEIZE ODE. 

To be sung at the Re-inauguration of the Crystal Palace, 
New York, M 'ay 4, 1854. 

By William Eoss Wallace. 

Lo ! the transitory darkness 

From our Palace floats away, 
Lo ! the glorious gems of Genius 

Glitter in the rising day. 

See again the mighty Nations 

Meet and clasp each other's palms, 

And by Labor's glowing altar 
Lift on high according psalms. 

Here behold the true Evangel ! 

Not from war may earth increase ; 
God has stamped his shining patent 

Only on the brow of Peace. 

Only by the arm of Labor, 

Swinging to Invention's chime. 
Can the Nations build their Eden, 

In the wilderness of Time. 

Nations hear that mighty music, 

Rolling through the mountain bars — 

Planting deserts, bridging oceans, 
Marrying the choral stars. 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 143 

Telling that our Crystal Palace, 

Glorifies the joyous sod — 
Making Man, with Art and Nature, 

Worthy of the Builder — God ! 

Nations then rejoice that darkness, 

From our Palace floats away, 
And the glowing gems of genius, 

Glitter in the light of day. 

This poem, so full of the most sublime imagery, was so much 
superior to all the others offered, that the judges declined 
awarding the second prize to any body. They did right. 
Such an effort should forever stand alone. It is a pity that 
its " gems of genius," — " shining patents," — and " chimes of in- 
vention " could not save the Palace. The " transitory dark- 
ness," unhappily, settled into a permanent gloom, and Barnum 
retired, under cover of its shadows. 

P. S. — I was not aware that God was the " builder" of the 
Palace, until informed of that fact by Mr. Wallace, in the 
sixth verse of his Ode, and I am rather at a loss to imagine, 
as he has not explained, how the Dutch, Irish, Chinese and 
English, can be made to sing "according psalms I" 

Note 4. — Stanza YII. 

" Hirst, — vide Behemoth, — has proved the folly 
Of writing what cannot be understood, — 
See also his Pantheon." 

I regret that I am not able to quote from Hirst's very 
astonishing poem on the great mystic beast of the prairie. I 



144 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

have, luckily, some of his " Pantheon," over the signature of 
Endymion, at hand, from which I extract the following drop- 
sical description of Neptune. 

" Lord of the boundless waves, seapotent dread I 
From pole to pole, through every varying zone, 
Thy mighty liquid empire is outspread 
Immeasurable, matchless and alone : 
The sea obeys thee, and, at thy command, 
Is calm or troublous ; and the trembling land, 
Smit by the mace of thy dread sovereignty, 
Earth-shaking Neptune, owns its fealty to thee." 

Neptune ought to be obliged to Mr. Hirst, for giving him 
the sovereignty of the land, as well as of the sea. But Mr. 
Hirst has a passion for the outre and the dreadful. With 
him every thing is a dread, except some pleasant beverages 
for which he has lately shown too great a fondness. In his 
" Jupiter Brontetes," he speaks of the Titans thus ; — 

" With dread consent the disembattled bands," &c. 

And again, in alluding to Jupiter waxing wrothy, he says, — 

" Then waking all his wrath, th' olympian sire 
Shook his dread hair," &c, &c. 

But this is really too dreadful a subject to dwell upon. 

Note 5. — Stanza IX. 

N Greek Girls are not my weakness, and I leave 
To Simmons all such wandering, wanton things." 

The " Greek Girl," a tale in two cantos, by James Wright 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 145 

Simmons, published by Monroe & Co., Boston, 1852, as an 
evidence of poetic skill, is creditable to the author. Many of 
its passages bespeak genius of the highest order, but the sen- 
timent is morbid, and the moral more than questionable. He 
seems to have picked up his heroine only for the purpose of 
casting her loose again upon society, fully bent upon and 
armed for mischief. As a picture of life, as it is, a poet may 
be excused for painting bad characters and actions, but he 
should never descend from the true dignity of his art, 
seriously to commend them for imitation or praise. 

Note 6. — Stanza X. 

"And ' Sylvan Scenes' have been so ably drawn, 
By Spear's too idle pen," &c. 

I consider Thomas G. Spear, of Philadelphia, one of the 
best poets of the age. I say best, because he unites in his 
writings an excellent taste in the choice of subjects, a smooth 
and flowing style in their embodiment, and an unexception- 
able diction and morality in his language and illustrations. I 
regret that he has not published more than he has yet brought 
to the public eye, and I trust that his adventures in California 
have given him golden subjects and opportunities for future 
excursions in his own delightful and peculiar realm of poesy. 

Note 7.— Stanza XYII. 

" The very flowers, whose gorgeous colors seem 
But given to beautify and glad the earth." 

" Plants are poisonous and antidotal. Many of them, and 
13 



146 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

shrubs, have means of defence. These means are the prickles 
and thorns with which we find them armed. The euphorbia, 
the cactus, and other similar plants, are in a good degree 
preserved by their thorns from violence. The gardener may 
protect the rose in the green-house, but it relies upon its own 
means of protection in the field." See notes to "the Ee- 
public of the United States of America," page 34, where 
some interesting descriptions of the viper's fang, the heron's 
claw, and the woodpecker's bill, are quoted from " Paley's 
Natural Philosophy." 

See also note to Stanza XLI. 

Note 8. — Stanza XLI. 
" If God so much all strife abhors, 



Why did he arm our fighting cocks with spurs ? " 

The author of an interesting and able work, entitled " The 
Kepublic of the United States of America," published by D. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1848, makes the following ob- 
servations on the principles of war : 

"We find the principle of war in all things, even in Peace 
Societies against war. It may be seen in the elements, as 
displayed in the tempests of the sky, and upon the billows of 
the mighty deep. It may be found in the earth, in its soils 
and substances, in the countless forms of vegetable growth, 
in their processes of decay and reproduction. It may be 
seen in the insect world, as illustrated by its system of defence, 
conquest and destruction. It may be seen in the viper's fang, 
in the heron's claw, and in the woodpecker's tongue. It may 
be seen in the lion's tooth, and in the eve of the monarch of 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 147 

the sea. It may be seen in all things which have life and 
growth ; in the means of defence with which they are supplied, 
implying power of attack and resistance. If we look into 
society, we find the elements of war in the defence which is 
given to liberty of person, of property, and of life. In viola- 
tion of law, all are taken by common consent of society. The 
vagrant is fined, the criminal punished, and the murderer 
hanged. Here we find violence to meet violence, even be- 
tween individuals, where a milder course is practicable, and 
would prove more efficient; and yet before this step is taken, 
nations are called upon to denounce war, when all other reme- 
dies, in the present condition of the world, are impracticable. 
All reforms commence with the individual, and, after passing 
through the various conventional circles, reach the nation. 
Let the commencement be seen before the end is demanded." 

Note 9.— Stanza XLYIII. 

" And let me ask, what would the world now be 
If all the priceless harvests, which the sword 
Has reaped were lost ? " 

The following comments upon the conversion of a cele- 
brated peace man to the war doctrine, are worthy of notice. 
They are from the Philadelphia Ledger of August 15, 1851: 

" "War Necessary. — Horace Greeley has, since his sojourn 
in Europe, become a convert to the physical force doctrine. 
He says, horrible as war is and ever must be, he deems a few 
battles a less evil than the perpetuity of such mental and 
physical bondage as is now endured by twenty millions of 
Italians. He remarks : 



148 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

" ' When the Peace Society shall have persuaded the Em- 
peror Nicholas or Francis Joseph to disband his armies, and 
rely for the support of his government on its intrinsic justice 
and inherent moral force, I shall be ready to enter its ranks ; 
but while despotism, fraud and wrong are triumphantly 
upheld by force, I do not see how freedom, justice and pro- 
gress, can safely disclaim and repudiate the only weapons 
that tyrants fear — the only arguments they regard.' 

"Somebody has said that the very best missionary is a 
soldier armed to the teeth, and it does seem as if there were 
a necessary connection between gunpowder and political pro- 
gress—that the dearest rights of humanity are to be acquired 
only by the expenditure of rivers of blood. The oppressors 
of mankind know the value of physical force, and never fail 
to resort to it, hence the necessity of meeting them with the 
same weapons." 

Note 10.— Stanza LXXYIL 

" Upon what should be held as neutral ground, 
Because disputed," &c. 

Some of our politicians, after the first flash of patriotic 
zeal, which the report of the advance of Taylor excited, had 
subsided, indulged in the very singular and illogical argu- 
ment that we committed a wrong in crossing the Nueces, 
because our right, and the right of Texas to the territory 
lying between the Nueces and the Eio Grande del Norte, 
was disputed by the Mexicans. These gentlemen seemed to 
forget that there were two sides to this dispute, and that while 
both nations claimed the territory in question, neither had 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 149 

any exclusive jurisdiction over it. The Mexicans crossed the 
Rio Grande, and surely, if they were right in doing so, it 
could not be wrong in us to cross the Nueces. 

Note 11.— Stanza LXXXYI. 

"He escaped the jail, 
Only to have an arm'd police for bail." 

The following extracts from the minutes of the interview 
between Generals Worth and La Vega, are a fair illustration 
of the Mexican character, and show the prevarication and 
duplicity which La Vega, although himself a man of honor, 
was obliged to resort to, when representing the feeble and 
unmanly policy of his government. 

Gen. Worth. Is the American Consul in arrest or in 
prison ? 

Gen. La Vega. No. 

Gen. Worth. Is he now in the exercise of his proper 
functions ? 

Gen. La Yega. (After apparently consulting the Licen- 
ciado Casares for a moment,) replied that he was. 

Gen. Worth. Then, as an American officer, in the name 
of my government and my commanding general, I demand an 
interview with the Consul of my country. 

No reply was made by Gen. La Yega to this demand. It 
was repeated several times during the interview, when Gen. 
La Yega, although distinctly asserting that Mexico had not 
declared war against the United States, and that the two 
countries were still at peace, said he would submit the de- 
mand to Gen. Mejia, commanding at Matamoras, — adding, 

13* 



150 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

" that he thought there would be great difficulty." At length 
Gen. Worth repeated the demand for the last time, and the 
report says, " Gen. La Yega then promptly refused to comply 
with the demand, replying, without waiting for the interpre- 
tation, (as he spoke our language well,) No, No. 

Gen. Worth. I have now to state, that a refusal of my 
demand to see the American Consul is regarded as a belli- 
gerent act ; and, in conclusion, I have to add, the commanding 
general of the American forces on the left bank of the river, 
will regard the passage of any armed party of Mexicans in 
hostile array across the Eio Grande, as an act of war, and 
pursue it accordingly. 

Executive Documents, No. 196, House of Kepresentatives, 
1st Session 29th Congress, page 114. 

Note 12.— Stanza XCV. 

" We gave Almonte, ere his rage grew cold, 
His passports, and — took Texas to our fold." 

Mr. Jenkins, in his admirable " History of the War between 
the United States and Mexico," to which I have had frequent 
occasion to refer for information, gives a very accurate and 
perspicuous account of the progress of the negotiations for 
the annexation of Texas, from the opening proposition of a 
convention of the people of that State in 1836, to its consum- 
mation. As these matters would occupy more space than is 
ordinarily allotted to a note, I must ask the reader to consult 
Mr. Jenkins' work, pages 37 to 47, and the authorities there 
quoted. It is enough to state, briefly, that the Mexican offi- 
cials denounced the annexation of Texas as an act of war ; 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 151 

that they appealed to the representatives of foreign nations 
in Mexico, to sanction and sustain them ; that England made 
an attempt at interference, on the pretext of abolishing 
slavery in Texas, and that the United States pursued the 
course indicated in the text. 



Note 13.— Stanza XCYTII. 

" And tried to prove themselves entirely right, 
By a most silly eagerness to fight." 

Extract from General Taylor's reply to Ampudia, April 
12th, 1846. 

" I need hardly advise you that, charged as I am in only a 
military capacity, with the performance of specific duties, I 
cannot enter into a discussion of the international question 
involved in the advance of the American army. You will, 
however, permit me to say, that the government of the United 
States has constantly sought a settlement, by negotiation, of 
the question of boundary ; that an envoy was dispatched to 
Mexico for that purpose, and that, up to the most recent 
dates, said envoy had not been received by the actual Mexican 
government, if indeed he has not received his passports and 
left the republic. In the meantime, I have been ordered to 
occupy the country up to the left bank of the Eio Grande, 
until the boundary shall be definitely settled. In carrying 
out those instructions, I have carefully abstained from all acts 
of hostility, obeying, in this regard, not only the letter of my 
instructions, but the plain dictates of justice and humanity. 

" The instructions under which I am acting, will not permit 
me to retrograde from the position I now occupy. In view 



152 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

of the relations between our respective governments, and the 
individual suffering which may result, I regret the alternative 
which you offer; but, at the same time wish it understood 
that I shall by no means avoid such alternative, leaving the 
responsibility with those who rashly commence hostilities. In 
conclusion, you will permit me to give the assurance, that on 
my part, the laws and customs of war among civilized nations, 
shall be carefully observed." 

Note 14. —Stanza CIX. 
" Even politicians mingle in each wave." 

I do not include in this eulogy those left-handed patriots 
who had the hardihood, or the madness, to stand almost alone 
in the House of Kepresentatives, and record their votes 
against defending the country against the aggressions of 
Mexico, when the war was first announced to Congress. I 
leave them to enjoy the fame or the infamy they so boldly 
courted, and to insure their full enjoyment of it, as they then 
claimed and still merit, I insert their names. 

The question before the House being on the passage of the 
bill authorizing the President to accept the services of fifty 
thousand volunteers, and appropriating ten millions of dollars 
to prosecute the war began by Mexico, 174 members voted 
for the bill, and the following named patriots voted against 
it, viz : 

Luther Severance, of Maine ; Erastus D. Culver, of Ver- 
mont ; John Quincey Adams, George Ashman, Joseph Grin- 
nell, Charles Hudson and Daniel P. King, of Massachusetts ; 
Henry Y. Cranston, of Rhode Island ; John Strohm, of Penn- 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 153 

sylvania ; Columbus Delano, Joshua R. Giddings, Joseph M, 
Root, Daniel R. Tilden and Joseph Yance, of Ohio. — Total, 
14. 

Note 15.— Stanza CXXL 

" And Freedom dreaded, while Mankind abhor'd, 
The bootless triumphs of his flaming sword." 

John S. 0. Abbott, Esq., in his admirable sketches of Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, published in "Harper's New Monthly 
Magazine," gives the following just and clear description of 
the character and conduct of Wellington, in contrast with 
those of Napoleon. " It is greatly to Napoleon's honor, that 
such men as the Duke of Wellington were contending against 
him. It is, in itself, evidence of the righteousness of his 
cause. Probably there cannot be found in the world a man 
more resolutely hostile to popular reform, than was the Duke 
of Wellington. He was hated by the people. They had 
pelted him with mud through the streets of London, and he 
had been compelled to barricade his windows against their 
assaults. Even the soldiers under his command in Spain, had 
no affection for his person ; and, notwithstanding all the 
calumnies of the British press, they loved, around their camp- 
fires, to tell stories of the goodness of Napoleon. Many, too, 
of these soldiers, after the battle of Waterloo, were sent to 
Canada. I am informed, by a gentleman of commanding 
character and intelligence, that when a child, he has sat for 
hours listening to the anecdotes in favor of Napoleon, which 
those British soldiers had picked up in the camp. Yet, true 
to military discipline, they would stand firmly to their colors 



154 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

in the hour of battle. They were proud of the grandeur of 
the ' Iron Duke,' but no soldier loved him. We will imitate 
Napoleon's magnanimity, in not questioning the sincerity of 
the Duke of Wellington's convictions, that an aristocratic 
government is best for the people. We simply state the un- 
deniable fact, that his hostility was deadly to all popular 
reform." — Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. IX., p. 32. 

Note 16.— Stanza CXXITI. 
" there's nothing in a name." 



" What's in a name ? that which we call a rose 
By any other name would smell as sweet," &c. 

Borneo and Juliet. 



Note 17.— Stanza CXXXYII. 

" For its resplendent lore in Greek and Eoman, 
And arts, of practical behoof to no man." 

I do not mean to apply this reproach to Princeton College 
alone. But it is a lamentable fact, that the best years of our 
youth, are sacrificed, under a system of education invented 
centuries ago, which is wholly inconsistent with the views and 
interests of the present day, — in studying the dead languages, 
— when it is obvious to the most " casual observer" that all 
the good contained in the history and literature of Greece and 
Rome, has been extracted and rendered into good English in 
years long gone by, and when the study of those languages is 
but a loss of time and labor. 



NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 155 



Note 18.— Stanza CCXXXVIIL 

" His case is quite in point, for we remember 
His pitiless imprisonment at Ham." 

When Louis Napoleon Bonaparte made his first effort to 
obtain the throne of France, he was accompanied by a handful 
of hairbrained adventurers, who, after a most ridiculous exhi- 
bition of heroic folly, were quietly handed over to the police, 
and their leader sent to the castle of Ham, more for safe 
keeping as a lunatic, than for punishment as a criminal. He 
was then considered a fool. When the revolution which dis- 
placed the " Citizen King," Louis Phillipe, and made way for 
a rickety republic, gave Louis Napoleon an opportunity to 
return to France, after his escape from Ham, he played the 
democrat so well, that people were astonished at his good 
sense and liberal views. He soon became immensely popular, 
and was elected President ; but while France and the rest of 
the world were agitating the question of his re-election, or the 
choice of a successor, he very coolly, and almost noiselessly, 
put an end to the dispute, by overthrowing the republic and 
re-instating the empire of his illustrious uncle. The fool of 
Ham, and the democrat of the faubourgs, became at once the 
centre and soul of France, and the gossiping world discovered, 
when he made them feel it, that he was really a great man, 
and as capable of wielding a sceptre as any of the legitimate 
sovereigns, who rule the destinies of admiring nations by the 
"grace of God," and the stupidity of the people ! 

Such instances of the virtue of success are innumerable in 
the history of mankind. Columbus was considered insane by 



156 NOTES TO GAUDALOUPE. 

half the world, until he proved, by discovering the other half, 
that his theory was correct. Fulton was laughed at and pelted 
by a mob in New York, when he made the first experimental 
trial of his steamboat, and Father Miller, of earth-destroying 
notoriety, has failed to rival the glories of Mahomet or Joe 
Smith, merely because he erred in his figures, in fixing the 
destruction of the world at the time when it ought to have 
occurred, instead of when it will occur. 



IF 



Jan. 23 1861. 



PLEASE GIVE THIS CAT ALOGUE A CAREFUL PERUSAL 
LIST OF VALUABLE 

HISTORICAL, THEOLOGICAL, JUVENILE, 
SCHOOL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED BY 



rJA5-B, 




27 S. SEVENTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 

The Works embraced in this Catalogue, the publishers trust may find their way iuto 
me hands of every family in this country. The greatest care has been taken, that while 
they should be eminently instructive, interesting, and some of them even amusing, they 
should contain nothing in any manner the least injurious in their tendency, or censur- 
able In their character. At this time, when our country has become satiated with a claff 
of literature that aims at the virtuous foundations of the human mind, the Intelligent 1 
reader and the thinking parent will seek something of a more substantial and lasting 
character. 



Any of our Publications not for Fale in the reader's locality, will be sent to any perso* 
to any part of the United States or Canada, on their remitting the price of the work th«J 
may wish, to the Publishers, in a letter, free of postage o~ any other expense. 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO'S PUBLICATIONS. 



THE MOST USEFUL BOOK OF THE AGE. 



CHAMBERS' 

INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE, 

OR 

POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA, 

Embracing all the Branches of General Knowledge necessary to con- 
stitute a well informed Man. 

Complete in two imperial octavo volumes, of 840 pages each, double columns, Illustrated 
witli over Six Hundred Engravings, strongly and neatly bound. 

PRICE ONLY FIVE DOLLARS. 



INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE 

Is an Encyclopaedia containing a series of articles on the most important branches of 
SCIENCE, PHYSICAL. MATHEMATICAL, and MORAL; NATURAL HISTORY, POLI- 
TICAL HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, and GENERAL LITERATURE. All is given which, 
if studied and received into the mind, would make an individual, in the common walks 
of life, A WELL INFORMED MAN. The ruling objects of the accomplished authors, 
have been to give what may be expected to prove the means of self-education to the 
people generally, whether enjoying the means of academic instruction or not. 



AMONG THE SUBJECTS TREATED ARE : 



Astronomy, 
Geography, 
Geology. 

Physical History of Man, 
Ancient History- 
Egypt, 

Arabia-Petrsea, 
History of the Jews — 

Palestine, 
History of Greece and 

Rome, 
history of the Middle 

Ages, 
History of Great Britain 

and Ireland, 
Constitution and Re- 
sources of the British 

Empire, 
Description of— 

England, 

Loudon, 

Scotland, 

Ireland, 

British America, 

United States, 

Australia, 

Van Diem en's Land, 

New Zealand, 

South America, 

West Indies, 

East Indies, 
China and the Tea Trade, 
Ocean- 
Maritime discovery, 



Navigation, 
The Whale- 
Whale Fisheries,] 
Conveyance — 

Roads, 

Canals, 

Railways, 
Zoology, 
Account of the Human 

Body, 
Vegetable Physiology, 
Botany, 

Natu-al Theology, 
History of the Bible— 

Christianity, 
Private Duties of Life 
Public and Social Duties 

of Life, 
Life and Maxims of 

Franklin, 
Preservation of Health, 
Commerce- 
Money, 

Banks, 
History and Nature of 

Laws, 
Political Economy, 
Population, 
Poor Laws, 
Life Assurance, 
Mohammedan and Pagan 

Religions, 
Superstitions, 
Domestic Economy, 



Cookery, 

Proverbs and Old Say 

ings, 
Natural Philosophy, 
Mechanics, 
Machinery, 
Hydrostatics, 
Hydraulics, 
Pneumatics, 
Optics, 
Light, 
Acoustics, 
Chemistry, 
Chemistry applied to the 

Arts, 
Electricity, 
Galvanism, 
Electro-Magnetism, 
Meteorology, 
The Weather, 
Phrenology, 
Principles of Civil 

Government, 
Language, 
English Grammar, 
Logic, 
Education, 

Drawing and Perspective 
Arithmetic, 
Algebra, 
Geometry, 
Popular Statistics, 
Agriculture 



Social Economics of the 

Industrious Orders, 
Improvement of Wasl* 

Lauds, 
The Kitchen Garden, 
The Flower Garden 
The Fruit Garden, 
Arboriculture, 
The Horse, 
Cattle and Dairy Hui- 

bandry, 
Sheep, 
Pigs, 
Goats, 
Rabbits, 
Poultry, 
Cage Birds, 
Bees, 
The Dog, 
Field Sports, 
Angling, 

Gymnastic Exercises, 
In-door Amusements, 
Chronology, 
Printing, 
Engraving, 
Lithography, 
Architecture, 
The Steam Engine, 
Mining, 
Metals, 
Coal, 
Salt, and a variety of 

other subjects. 



The expense of preparing this work has been very heavy, as, in addition to the closely 
condensed printed matter, it has been necessary to execute upwards of Seven Hundred 
Engraving a. in order effectually to explain and embellish the various subjects of scientific, 
historical, and geographical information which the work fully and concisely embraces ; 
but: the publishers confidently rely on the intelligence and liberality of the public for 
enumeration. 

This is one of the most useful books published, of which over 100,00$ copies have been 
gold in England. It contains as much for five dollars as can be only had in the ordiuar* 
Way of books for a hundred. 

Price in Sheep, best library style, $5.00 

" " Half Turkey Morocco, neat, 7.00 

" « Half Calf Antique, 10.00 



Stamps. 



Copies sent free by Mail on receipt of Price in Money or Postage 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO'S. PUBLICATIONS. 

GREAT NATIONAL HISTORY. 

UNIVERSALLY PRONOUNCED TO BE THE GREATEST WORK ON THE AMERICAN 
REVOLUTION EVER PUBLISHED. 

PRICE ONLY TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS. 

BOUND IN AN ELEGANT STYLE. 



THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

AMERICAN REVOLUTION; 

BY CHARLES J. PETERSON. 

THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION CONTAINS A COM- 
PLETE HISTORY OF THE WAR OF 1776, 

And admirably written BIOGRAPHIES of all the prominent Officers engaged in that 
great struggle, including 

Charles Lee, 



George Washington, 
Joseph Warren, 
Israel Putnam. 
Richard Montgomery, 
Lord Stirling, 
Ethan Allen, 
William Moultrie, 
Hugh Mercer, 
Arthur St. Glair, 



Philip Schuyler, 
John Stark, 
Horatio Gates, 
Benedict Arnold, 
James Clinton, 
John Sullivan, 
Henry Knox, 
Baron Steuben, 



Benjamin Lincoln, 
Anthony Wayne, 
Count Pulaski, 
Robert Kirkwood, 
Baron De Kalb, 
Marquis De Lafayette, 
Nathaniel Greene, 



Otho H. Williams, 
Francis Marion, 
Thomas Sumter, 
Henry Lee, 
Daniel Morgan, 
Thaddeus Kosciusko, 
Alexander Hamilton, 
Aaron Burr. 



And is splendidly illustrated with 

NEARLY TWO HUNDRED FINE ENGRAVINGS. 



THE WARS OF 1812 AND WITH MEXICO! TO MATCH THE HEROES OF THE 

REVOLUTION. 

TRICE ONLY TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS. 

The best History of these Wars ever Published. 



THE MILITARY HEEOES 
OF THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE WAR 
WITH MEXICO ; 

WITH HISTORICAL NARRATIVES OF THOSE WARS. 

BY CHARLES J. PETERSON. 

THE MILITARY HEROES OF THE WARS OF 1812 AND MEXICO, CONTAIN COM- 
PLETE HISTORIES OF THOSE WARS: 

Giving authentic narratives of the causes which gave rise to them, their progress and 
termination, with vivid descriptions of the 

CELEBRATED BATTLES OF 

Tippecanoe, Detroit, Fort Harrison, Queenstoion, Lundy's Lane, Yorktoivn, Lake Erie, The Thames, Ta, 

lashatchce, Emuckfaw, Fort Erie, New Orleans, fyc, fyc. 

Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Fort Broion, Monterey, Buena Vista, Puebla de Taos, Los Angelos, Vera 

Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec, Molino del Jiey, Ruamantla, fyc., <£•<;., to the 

CAPITULATION OF THE CITY OF MEXICO: 

Together with IMPARTIAL BIOGRAPHIES of all the prominent actors engaged in those wars, amonj 
vhich will be found William Hull, James Winchester, Zebulon M. Pike, Henry Dearborn, James Wilkin- 
on, John Armstrong, George Croghan, Wm. H. Harrison, Richard M. Johnson, Isaac Shelby, Jacob 
.{town, K. W. Ripley, James Miller, Nathan Towson, Thomas S. Jessup, E. P, Gaines, Peter B. Porter 
Alexander Macomb, Samuel Smith, Andrew Jackson, &c. Zachary Taylor, Samuel Ringgold, Charle 
May, Wm. 0. Butler, Wm. J. Worth, John E. Wool, Stephen W. Kearney, John C. Fremont. A. W. Do- 
niphan, Samuel H. Walker, Winfield Scott, David E. Twiggs, Robert Patterson, Persifer P. Smith. Jamei 
Shields, James Duncan, Bennet Riley, John A. Quitman, Joseph Lane, Gideon J. Pillow, George Cad- 
ftalader, Win. S. Harney, Franklin Pierce, Roger Jones, <fcc. And is illustrated with 
TWO HUNDRED FINE ENGRAVINGS. 

f$^ Copies of either of the above sent free by Mail on receipt of Price 
in Money or Postage Stamps, 

3 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
Peterson's Histories of the United States Wars. 

Being a History of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the War 
with Mexico, with Biographical Sketches of all the principal Officers 
engaged in the three Wars. Illustrated with more than 400 en* 
gravings. Price, handsomely bound in Library style, $3.50. 



Peterson's History of the United States Navy. 

From the formation of the Navy to the close of the Mexican War. 
One handsome octavo volume, with more than 250 engravings, em- 
bracing portraits of all the prominent officers, sketches of naval 
engagements, &c. Sheep, library style, price $2.50. 



Scott's Life of Napoleon. 

The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, with f 
Preliminary View of the French Revolution. By Sir Walter Scotl 
Complete, 2 vols, in one large 8vo., with numerous engravinge 
Price, $3.00. 



JOSEPHUS' COMPLETE WORKS 

FROM NEW STEREOTYPE PLATES. 

The works of Flavius Josephus, containing Twenty Books of th* 
Jewish Antiquities, Seven Books of the Jewish War, and the Life 
of Josephus, written by himself. Translated from the original 
Greek, according to Havercamp's accurate Edition, together with 
Explanatory Notes and Observations. By the late William Whis- 
ton, A.M. Complete in one large octavo volume of 1000 pages, 
embellished with elegant Engravings. Neatly and strongly bound. 
Price $2.50. 

This is an entirely new edition of Josephus, just Stereotyped on 
Long Primer Type, and is without exception the best edition now 
published. 



Copies of either of the above sent free by Mail on receipt of Price 

4 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

VALUABLE UNIVERSAL HISTORY. 

Beautifully bound and illustrated with elegant Engravings. 

PBICE ONLY $2.50,. 

Edited by John S. Hart, Esq. 



A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, 

ON A NEW AND SYSTEMATIC PLAN, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE TREATY OF 

VIENNA. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

A SUMMARY OF LEADING EVENTS FROM THAT PERIOD 

TO THE YEAR 1821, 

BY H. WHITE, B. A., 

TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 

WITH A CONTINUATION, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS REVOLUTIONS 
IN EUROPE AND AMERICA TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

Jh oiu beautiful octavo volume, bound in a durable and handsome style, and illustrated with 
numerous elegant Engravings. 

The work is divided into three parts, corresponding with Ancient, Middle, and Modern 
History ; which parts are again subdivided into centuries, so that the various events are 
presented in the order of time, while it is so arranged that the annals of each country can 
be read consecutively, thus combining the advantages of both the plans hitherto pursued 
in works of this kind. To guide the researches of the reader, there will be found numerous 
synoptical tables, with remarks and sketches of literature, antiquities, aud manners, ac 
the great chronological epochs. 

The Author, who has had great experience as a teacher of history, has spent, several years 
in the composition of the work; and every effort has been made to insure its accuracy 
during its passage through the press. In his Preface, he remarks that "he has consulted 
the best works in the English language, and acknowledges his great obligations to several 
of the more recent French and German writers. The references introduced in the body 
of the work, serve to indicate the main sources from which his information has been 
derived ; and it is hoped they will also be serviceable to the student, by directing the 
course of his further researches, as well as inducing him to continue them in a more 
extended held." 

In preparing this edition, the American Editor has paid particular attention to those 
portions of the work which treat of American History, making them more full, aud cor- 
recting those mistakes which are inevitable in one residing at such a distance from the 
source of information. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

" Without branching out into unnecessary or minute details, it contains a succinct narrative of the 
principal events in the world's history, from the earliest ages to the present time, drawn up in a simplt 
and luminous style."— Westminster Review. 

" This work has been compiled with skill."— AtJieneum. 

"The History of the World, from the creation down to the present time, has been arranged by Mr 
White in such a way as to render the study of his elegant synopsis easy and agreeable.*'— New World. 

" The volume here given to the public, has evidently been prepared with much care. It is arranged 
with great convenience, and the narratives of events are given in a style that will doubtless prove inter- 
esting to every reader.'"— Saturday Courier. 

" On the whole, this must be regarded as one of the most compendious and well arranged works that 
have appeared." — Saturday Post. 

" Under whatever circumstances persons are led to seek an acquaintance with general history, th* 
work by Mr. White will serve to gratify their longings in this particular, and to aid them in treasuring 
■ p a vast amount of well arranged and clearly told historical incidents of the different people who hav* 
■•urished in successive ages, from the earliest date down to the present time."— Colonization Herald. 

Copies of the above sent free by Mail on receipt of Price. 

5 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 



THE BEST HISTORY OF THE INDIAN WARS PUBLISHED 

Handsomely bound and elegantly illustrated with numerous 

COLORED AND PLAIN ENGRAVINGS. 

PRICE ONLY TWO DOLLARS. 



A HISTORY OF 



THE INDIAN WARS 



OP 



THE UNITED STATES, 

FROM THE DISCOVERY TO THE PRESENT TIME, 



WITH ACCOUNTS OP 



THE ORIGIN, MANNERS, SUPERSTITIONS, ETC., OF THE 
ABORIGINES. 

BY WILLIAM V. MOORE. 



This beautiful and valuable work contains : 



A General Account of the Indians 

of North America. 
Early Indian Wars of Florida. 
Early Indian Wars of Virginia. 
Early Indian Relations of New 

England. 
The Pequod War. 
King Philip's War. 
King William's War. 
Wars of the Five Nations. 
Queen Anne's Wta*. 
Lovewell's War. 
Last French and Indian War. 
Pontiac's War. 

In one handsomely illustrated and beautifully £ ^*uted octavo 
volume. 



War of the Western Indians. 
Indian Wars of Carolina, previous 

to the Revolution. 
Cresap's War. 

Indian Wars of the Revolution. 
North-Western War, (during Geo. 

Washington's Administration.) 
Tippecanoe War. 
North-Western War, (1812 &ud 

1813.) 
The Creek War. 
Black Hawk's War. 
Seminole War. 



Copies of the above sent free by Mail on receipt of Price. 





JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
A BOOK FOR EVERY AMERICAN! 



THE TRUE REPUBLICAN: 

CONTAINING THE INAUGURAL ADDRESSES, AND THE FIRST ANNUAL AD- 
DRESSES AND MESSAGES OF ALL THE 

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ; 

AND THE 

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 

WITH THE AMENDMENTS AND SIGNERS' NAMES. 

ALSO, 

THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STATES 

IN THE UNION, AND THE FAREWELL ADDRESSES 

OF WASHINGTON AND JACKSON. 

EMBELLISHED WITH 

ELEGANT PORTRAITS OF ALL THE PRESIDENTS, 

Engraved on Steel, as large as the size of the page will admit, executed by one of the best 
Artists in Philadelphia, and a view of 

THE CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES. 

** * This Work is well printed, on good paper, and new type, 12mo. size; handsomely 
bound in muslin and stamped. It contains about 600 pages, besides the Engravings. 

PRICE ONLY ONE DOLLAR. 



CONTENTS. 



Declaration of Independence, 
Washington's Inaugural Address, 
Washington's First Annual Message, 
Washington's Farewell Address, 
Adams' Inaugural Address, 
Adams' First Annual Message, 
Jefferson's Inaugural Address, 
Jefferson's First Annual Message, 
Madison's Inaugural Address, 
Madison's First Annual Message, 
Monroe's Inaugural Address, 
Monroe's First Annual Message, 
J. Q. Adams' Inaugural Address, 
J. Q. Adams' First Annual Message, 
Jackson's Inaugural Address, 
Jackson's First Annual Message, 
Jackson's Farewell Address, 
Van Buren's Inaugural Address, 
Van Buren's First Annual Message, 



Harrison's Inaugural Address, 
Tyler's Inaugural Address, 
Tyler's First Annual Message, 
Polk's Inaugural Address, 
Polk's First Annual Message, 
Taylor's Inaugural Address, 
Fillmore s Inaugural Address, 
Pierce's Inaugural Address, 
Buchanan's Inaugural Address, 
Constitution of the United States, 
Amendment to the Constitution, 
Constitution of New York, 

" Massachusetts, 

" Pennsylvania, 

" Virginia, 

" South Carolina, 

" Kentucky, 

" Ohio, 

" New Jersey. 



It is confidently believed that the interesting character of this publication will be suffi- 
cient to recommend it to the favorable notice of an intelligent public ; containing as it 
does, the leading productions of all our Presidents, and thus placing the knowledge of 
those principles, which form the substantial foundation of our enviable Republic, within 
the reach of every one of its citizens. 



Copies sent free by Mail on receipt of Price. 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

AMERICAN NAVAL HISTORY. 

ELEGANTLY ILLUSTRATED. 

Handsomely bound in Sheep, Library Style 



HISTORY 

01? 

THE UNITED STATES NAVY, 

AND 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF AMERICAN 
NAVAL HEROES, 

FROM THE FORMATION OF THE NAVY TO THE CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
BY CHAKLES J. PETERSON, 

AUTHOR OP " THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION," "THE MILITARY HEROES OF THE WAR OF 1812, " 
" THE MILITARY HEROES OF THE WAR WITH MEXICO," ETC., ETC., ETC. 

In one large handsome octavo volume, illustrated with over one hundred fine Engravings, 

EMBRACING 

PORTRAITS OF ALL THE PROMINENT OFFICERS, 

SKETCHES OF NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS, 

ETC., ETC. 

Among the contents will be found authentic Biographical Sketches of 

JOHN PAUL JONES, 



NICHOLAS BIDDLE, 
ALEXANDER MURRAY, 
JOSHUA BARNEY, 
THOMAS TRUXTUN, 
EDWARD PREBLE, 
ISAAC HULL, 
STEPHEN DECATUR, 
JAMES LAWRENCE, 
WILLIAM BURROWS, 
JESSE D. ELLIOTT, 
DAVID PORTER, 
THOMAS MACDONOUGH, 
JAMES BIDDLE, 
DAVID CONNOR, 
JOHN ROGERS, 
STEPHEN CASSIN, 



JOHN BARRY, 
RICHARD DALE, 
JOHN SHAW. 
RICHARD SOMERS, 
JACOB JONES, 
WILLIAM BAINBR1DGE, 
WILLIAM II. ALLEN, 
OLIVER H. PERRY, 
M. T. WOOLSEY, 
J. BLAKELEY, 
CHARLES STEWART, 
JOHN T. SHUBRICK, 
ROBERT F. STOCKTON, 
ISAAC CHAUNCEY, 
ROBERT HENLEY, 



WARRINGTON, ETC., ETC., ETC. 
Forming without exception, the 

Handsomest and Best "Work on the American Navy ever published. 

In order to place this elegant work within the reach of every family, the publishers, 
notwithstanding the great cost of preparing and publishing this GREAT NATIONAL 
HISTORY, have been induced to offer it at the extremely low price of $2.50 per copy. 



Copies sent free brj Mail on receipt of Price. 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S. PDBLICATIONS. 



FOX'S BOOK OF MAKTYKS. 

PRICE $3.00. 



FOX'S 

BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



THE 



ACTS AND MONUMENTS 

OF THE 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

BEING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE LIVES, 
SUFFERINGS, AND DEATHS OF THE CHRIS- 
TIAN MARTYRS, FROM THE COMMENCE- 
MENT OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE 
PRESENT PERIOD. 

BY JOHN FOX. 

To which is added an Account of the Inquisition ; the Bartholomew 
Massacre in France ; the General Persecution under Louis XIV. ; the 
Massacre in the Irish Rebellions in the years 1G41 and 1796 ; the 
Rise, Progress, and Persecution of the People called Quakers; 
together with &n Account of the Western Martyrology, or Bloody 
Assizes ; with the Lives of some of the early Eminent Reformers. 

Revised and improved by the Rev. John Malham and the Rev. T. 
Pratt, D.D. One large quarto volume of 760 pages, illustrated with 
55 Engravings. This is the finest and best edition of this work ever 
published in this country. Sheep, $3.00. 



Copies sent free by Mail on receipt of Price. 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

WORCESTER'S REVISED EDITION OF 
JOHNSON & WALKER'S ROYAL OCTAVO 

PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY, 

1184 large double column pages. 
PRICE ONLY TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS. 



JOHNSON'S 

ENGLISH DICTIONARY: 

AS IMPROVED BY TODD, 

WITH 

WALKER'S PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY 

COMBINED. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

WALKER'S KEY 



CLASSICAL PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK, LATIN, AND 
SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES. 

CAREFULLY EDITED AND REVISED BY 

J. E. WORCESTER, CAMBRIDGE, 

So as to adapt it to the wants of the present age, and make the best 
Pronouncing Dictionary published. 

Complete in one large royal octavo volume of 1184 pages, double 
column, neatly and strongly bound in sheep, best library style, 

Price only $2.50, 

Being the best and cheapest Dictionary in the English Language. 



Copies seat free by Mail on receipt of Price. 

10 



TAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

BEST COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE EVEIl 
PUBLISHED. 

PRICE ONLY $12.00. 



PATRICK, LOWTH, WHITBY, AMALD, AND LOWMAN'S 

COMMENTARY 

ON 

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 

A new Edition of this valuable standard and theological work, 4 
volumes, imperial 8vo., of nearly 5000 pages, strongly bound in 

sheep, best library style, $12.00 

do. do. half calf, or Turkey mor. antique, 

marble edges, 20.00 
do. do. " " dark " 22.00 

8@* In the previous editions of this invaluable Commentary, the 
Annotations were printed without the Sacred Text, thus rendering it 
a mere text book of reference for the study. In this edition, the text 
is placed at the head of each page, as in other Commentaries of the 
Holy Scriptures, thus adapting it to general use in the family and 
the closet. 

PICTORIAL HISTORY OF AMERICA, 

From the Discovery to the year 1854. By John Frost, LL.D. Em- 
bellished with seven hundred Engravings. This splendid work 
contains an account of the Conquest of Mexico by Cortez, the Con- 
quest of Peru by Pizarro and Almagro, the Conquest of Florida by 
De Soto, the Discovery and Settlement of the United States and 
Canada, King Philip's War, the Seven Years' War, the American 
Revolution, the War of 1812, the War with the French Republic, 
the several Indian Wars, and the late War with Mexico. This is 
the best popular History of America now published. Complete in 
two volumes of 800 large octavo pages each, beautifully bound. 
Price $4.00. 



Copies of either of the above sent free by Mail on receipt of Price. 

11 



JAS. B. SMITH & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

Shakspeare's Complete Works, 

Printed from the Text of Stevens and Malone, with Life, and Historical, 
Critical and Explanatory Notices, by A. Cunningham, a Glossary, and 

fdegant illustrations on steel, 8vo , cloth, $2 00 

do. do. " full gilt sides, . . . 2 50 

do. do. Sheep, library style, . . . 2 50 

do. do. Cloth, extra gilt edges, . . 3 00 

do. do. Half Turkey morocco, . . 3 00 

do. do. Morocco, full gilt, . . . 3 50 
Fine Edition, elegantly printed on superfine sized and calendered paper, 

with 20 steel engravings, Half calf, gilt extra, 4 50 

do. do. " antique marble edges, . . . 4 50 

do. do. Full « ■« « « ... 6 00 

do. do. " " " dark « . . . 6 00 

do. do. Turkey mor., gilt sides and edges, . . 6 50 

Shakspeare's Complete Works. 

Life, Glossary and Poems, illustrated with 42 fine steel engravings, com- 
plete in 8 vols. 16mo., of over 4000 pages, cloth gilt, . . . 4 00 
do. do. " extra gilt edges, . 6 00 
do. do. Morocco, " " .8 00 

Shakspeare's Works, 

Complete in one large 12mo. volume of 960 pages, with 2 fine steel 

illustrations, cloth gilt, 1 25 

do. Sheep, library style, . . » . . . . 1 50 

do. Cloth, extra gilt edges, . 1 75 

do. Morocco, 2 50 

do. Half Turkey morocco, .2 00 

Lord Byron's Works. 

The complete Poetical Works of Lord Byron, with a Memoir of his Life. 
A new and beautiful edition in one volume, octavo, large clear type, 

handsomely illustrated with eight elegant steel engravings, cloth, gilt, 2 00 

Cloth, full gilt sides, . . . 2 50 

Sheep, edge rolled, . . . . 2 50 

Cloth, extra gilt edges, . . . 3 00 

Half turkey morocco, . . . 3 00 

Morocco, full gilt, . . . . 3 50 

Half Calf, antique, . . , . 4 00 

The Same Work. 

Royal 8vo., largest type edition published, handsomely illustrated, 

Cloth, gilt, 
do. do. " full gilt sides, 

do. do. Sheep, edge rolled, . 

do. do. Cloth, extra gilt edges, 

do. do. Half Turkey morocco, 

do, do. Morocco, full gilt, 

Fine Edition, printed on superfine sized and calendered paper, w 
new and beautiful steel plates, half calf, gilt extra, 
do. do. Half calf, antique, 

do. do. Full mor., " " 

do. do. <f calf, " dark, 

do. do. Turkey morocco, full gilt, 

Copies of either of the above sent free by Mail on receipt of Price. 



do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 



. 2 


50 


. 3 


00 


. 3 


00 


. 3 


50 


. 3 


50 


. 4 


00 


ith 16 




. 4 


50 


. 4 


50 


. 6 


00 


. 6 


00 


. 6 


50 



